As people age, they lose strength and muscle throughout the body. They also tend to sit more and not use the important muscles in the core as often.
For seniors, core strength is critical for posture, injury prevention, and longevity. The core muscles support your whole body and are used in all your daily activities. Lifting, walking, and stair climbing all require the use of your core. It’s what stabilizes and drives your limb movement.
Learning the best core exercises is simple, and you don’t need a gym membership to do it. A sturdy chair and a little bit of time a few days a week can make all the difference.
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Planks are a great way to strengthen the deep muscles in our core. Unfortunately, they aren’t easy muscles to target. But practicing the feeling of drawing in through your belly button and engaging those inner, deep muscles can help develop them. As a result, you’ll be more aware of your body and posture.
Muscles worked: Planks help stabilize and strengthen our transverse abdominals. These are the muscles that lay low in your trunk, wrapping around your spine. They lie under your rectus abdominal muscles (the infamous six-pack muscles) and protect your spine.
If your chair planks become easy and you can hold that position for a minute or longer, you can start to challenge yourself by doing planks on the floor.
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Knee lifts are progressive exercises. No matter your level of fitness, they can help you build up inner core strength. The single-sided nature of this movement encourages improvement in balance and helps create low abdominal strength.
Muscles worked: Knee lifts work the lower abdominal muscles as well as your transverse abdominals. They encourage core stabilization of the trunk.
Incorporating this movement into your exercise routine will give your trunk and core more stabilization and spinal support. It can also help with other movements you do in your daily life.
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Muscles worked: Your obliques are the muscles that run up the sides of your trunk. These are an important piece of your core’s supportive structure, but are often neglected.
Core strength is critical for posture, injury prevention, and longevity. Keeping this part of your body strong is one of the easiest things to do for your health. Luckily, you don’t need expensive gyms or machines. You can do these exercises anywhere. Just be sure to see your doctor before starting a new exercise program.Specifically, are you at risk of being one of the 2.8 million seniors injured in a fall each year, just in the United States alone?
You might be, especially if you neglect strengthening the area of your body responsible for maintaining your balance and stability: your core.
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Now, you might be wondering how doing ab exercises is going to prevent you from falling – which is one of the leading causes of fatal injuries in older adults (1).
Stay with me, and you’ll discover that your core actually consists of much more than just your “six-pack” muscles. It basically includes almost your entire torso, from the front of your stomach and wrapping all the way around your lower back.
This includes the rectus abdominus (the six-pack ab muscles), the internal and external obliques (the muscles running down the side of your torso), the transverse abdominus (the innermost layer of muscle surrounding your spine), the hips, and the lower back.
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Since the core supports and stabilizes your spine, you’ll find that with a strong core it becomes much easier to bend, reach, and twist. In turn, this helps you become less susceptible to balance-related falls.
Studies confirm this, showing that gaining core strength through pilates-style exercises can help increase stability and mobility, keeping you fall-free (and independent) for longer (2).
As a bonus, you might also discover you have less low back pain, since your disks and joints will be cushioned by a nice wall of muscle, which relieves pressure from your joints.
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It’s always a good idea to check with your doctor before starting any new exercise program – especially if you have (or think you might have) any underlying health issues like osteopenia, osteoporosis, or high blood pressure.
While it might seem overly simple at first glance, making it a habit can have a powerful strengthening effect on your core, and even improve your posture.
The way it works is by activating the transverse abdominis muscle that wraps around the core, drawing it in like a corset.
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Wood chops are a great exercise that target nearly every muscle in your core, while also challenging your balance. It also mimics a move many of us do every day: loading and unloading the dishwasher!
Bridge exercises are excellent for strengthening the posterior chain, an integral part of the core that includes the glutes, hips, low back, and abs.
The superman strengthens your lower back, upper back, and glute muscles, which will help you perform any movement requiring bending over or sitting.
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There are progressions in this exercises, as you can see from the photo above. I recommend beginning with lifting one arm and the opposite leg, and gradually progressing to lifting both arms and legs.
If this is still too difficult, try staying with only lifting your arms, then your legs until you build up your strength.
The dead bug exercise helps strengthen your entire core, including the stability muscles and your obliques that run up and down your sides. It’s important to keep your low back close to the floor while doing this exercise, both for safety and results.
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If you want more of a challenge and can keep your low back on the floor, reach the opposite arm overhead as you extend your leg. So, as your left leg reaches toward the floor, the right arm extends overhead.
The bird dog is similar to the dead bug, but reversed. It strengthens and engages your core, lower back, and glutes, all while challenging your stabilizer muscles to hold your balance.
Again, if this exercise is too difficult at first, try holding out just one arm, and/or one leg. Eventually, your core will be strong enough to let you hold out both.
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Planks and their variations are one of the best exercises for targeting your entire core. As a bonus, you’ll also strengthen your arms and upper body as you hold yourself in the plank position.
These ancient forms of exercise have been shown to improve mobility, strength, and stability in older adults, while also improving mood and outlook on life.
One 2010 study even showed that seniors participating in a yoga program for 12 weeks reduced their fear of falling by 6 percent, while also increasing their balance by 4 percent and improving their hip flexibility by 34 percent (3)!
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Even if you’ve never fallen before or aren’t too worried about it at present, the CDC states that as adults age, their fear of falling tends to increase (4).
Now, this can be a huge psychological stressor, because who wants to be worried about their body failing them all the time? And it obviously can impact your quality of life.
When seniors start to fear falling, they usually start to avoid social activities, which can result in depression and feelings of isolation.
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My goal in providing these exercises is to make sure you become the opposite of these statistics and go on to live a happy, strong, mobile life free from the fear of falling.
Want more help strengthening your abs and low back? You’ll want to download my Abs Secret Blueprint, which includes 7 smarter steps to get a toned core.
Yuri Elkaim is one of the world’s most trusted health and fitness experts. A former pro soccer player turned NYT bestselling author of The All-Day Energy Diet and The All-Day Fat Burning Diet, his clear, science-backed advice has transformed the lives of more than 500, 000 men and women and he’s on a mission to help 100 million people by 2040. Read his inspiring story, “From Soccer to Bed to No Hair on My Head” that started it all.Southern Maine Agency on Aging virtual programs calendar. Programs include: guided relaxation, gentle exercise, gentle yoga classes, Tai Chi for health and balance.
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Healthy Living For ME virtual classes. Healthy Living for ME’s programs are evidence-based and proven to make a positive difference in quality of life measures such as feeling more in control, less stressed, and able to do more of what makes you feel well. Classes include strategies and exercises to take an active role in managing your health and well-being, and are offered in four program categories: Falls Prevention, Diabetes Prevention & Self-Management, Caregiver Support, and Chronic Pain & Disease Management.
U-ExCEL is a functional fitness program that promotes the broad spectrum of health for older adults living in the community, in nursing homes, assisted living settings, or in independent housing on life care campuses. U-ExCEL encompasses individuals’ health and fitness goals along with current medical diagnoses to improve or maintain function through the provision of functional fitness techniques including strength, balance, endurance, nutrition, and other supportive wellness interventions.
“Brain Health, You Can Make a Difference” is an evidence-based program to help older persons take simple steps toward better cognitive health.
Exercises To Help Seniors Improve Balance, Mobility, And Fitness
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