As you get older, it can be all too easy to think that fitness is not for you. In fact, the exact opposite of this is true, as the older you get the more important fitness is for your continued wellness and wellbeing.
Regular exercise can help to keep your body weight within a normal range and your cholesterol levels healthy, as well as controlling your blood pressure. It can also help to reduce your risk of heart attack, stroke and hardening of the arteries. In addition to all this, taking regular exercise helps to strengthen your tendons, ligaments, muscles and bones, which helps to keep your aging body strong and guards against osteoporosis. Keeping up your strength means that age will not slow you down, and you will be able to continue enjoying a good quality of life and all of the activities that you have enjoyed throughout your life.
If it has been a while since your last bout of exercise, take it easy and start slowly. The last thing you want to do is end up with some sort of injury. Start slowly by walking for five or ten minutes at a time, a few times a week. You can gradually increase this to walking for 30 minutes each time, and then use this fitness foundation to move onto other activities.
Aerobic endurance is particularly good for your heart as it increases the rate of your heartbeat. After just six weeks of this type of exercise, you should notice that you are more comfortable going about your day-to-day activities, and that you are able to work out at an increased rate to when you started. The best aerobics to start with are non-jarring types such as swimming, aqua aerobics, walking, cycling and some kind of low impact dance. There is also ballroom dancing, tai chi, line dancing and square dancing to add to the mix if you fancy it.
