Do You Like Exercising in your Home? Try These Online Exercise Resources

Some type of daily exercise routine is so important for our physical as well as emotional well-being.  When creating a care-plan I always encourage my clients to be sure to plan for access to physical activity during the day.  The issues to be sure to address in an exercise routine include flexibility and strength building.  Focusing on these will help to keep you or your loved one safer from falls, help to prevent osteoporosis, and support agility, which diminishes as we age.  If you or your loved one are not interested in going to the gym to get your daily exercise, or don’t want to go out due to weather or transportation issues, there are plenty of great exercise resources on-line.  Here are a few I like:

• Grow Young Fitness: www.growyoungfitness.com  offers a progressive exercise program, nutritional advice and a private Facebook community.  What I particularly like about this resource is that they offer a chair yoga which has many health benefits including reductions in arthritic pain.There is a membership fee which ranges from $20-$50 dollars per month.
• Eldergym: Eldergym.com offers in depth health information, and for a fee, access to exercise videos specifically geared to the needs of seniors.  The videos are also available on DVD and an e-book can be downloaded. You can do this by yourself or get your own group of friends together.
• Gaia: If you’re into meditation or yoga, or have been wanting to try either one, but don’t want to leave your home, consider Gaia, an comprehensive online site for information and practice of yoga and meditation. Prices for a month are $9.95, 20.00 for 3 months, or 99.00 for the year.  If you’re at all interested in this, it is worth exploring the site. They also have an easy to use APP so you can easily do it wherever you are.
• Youtube: offers numerous exercise videos for seniors, which include chair exercise, and balance exercises.  Go to Youtube.com and search “senior exercise” and you will find numerous instructor led exercise videos down the right side of the screen.  Also, try searching  Youtube for Yoga and Tai Chi for Seniors.  Both of these types of workout build strength, and improve balance and flexibility.

Want to find your own personal trainer?  

• Check our directory of service providers to see if there’s one near you.
• The National Strength and Conditioning Association provides information on conditioningl and nutrition. If you scroll to the bottom of the home page you’ll find a searchable database of private instructors.  
• The American Council on Exercise also has a searchable database of personal trainers by zipcode.  A profile of each trainer is provided along with their professional certifications and their specialities. If you use this, please make sure that they are experienced in working with older adults. Some even have specific “senior” certifications.

If you go this route, don’t forget to do your homework. Be sure they work with older adults, and don’t forget to ask for their license and insurance certificate before engaging them. You can ask for references, but beware as they may not feel comfortable providing personal information of their clients.

If you have additional resources for online exercising please send us a quick email at NancyS@senioritymatters.com