When I work out at the South County YMCA in the afternoon, there are often high school athletes doing after-school training routines. One impressive thing they do is standing leaps to the tops of padded boxes. They pile up two 24 inchers for a four-foot leap and occasionally top it off with another 12 incher. Once I struck up a conversation with a young guy who was having no trouble clearing 5 feet. I said, “You know those standing leaps? You really shouldn’t do them in front of old guys. It just makes us feel awful.” He turned out to be as pleasant as he was fit. He chuckled, and said, “Ha! Sorry about that, man. But you’re here! That’s what counts.” He was right, of course. We were both there and doing the same thing: celebrating what our bodies can do, him at about 17 and me pushing 80.
Fitness is a lifelong pursuit and it may look quite different depending on our ages. What follows is a consideration of fitness and exercise approaches for older people that I have had some experience with. I hope to tempt you to start a fitness program or urge you to keep it up!
Personal Training
Jason Vieira operates Balance Fitness in Jamestown. It is a large, no frills, facility that is always buzzing with activity. When I arrive, he is just wrapping up a Fit2Serve class, part of a program Vieira offers “to ensure police officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, members of the military, and others in public safety are at the levels of fitness required to do their jobs effectively and without injury, on day one.” About twenty very healthy looking young men and women are wiping off the sweat and catching their breath. Vieira says it is great working with this group, but it is not his typical clientele. “I’m in a community where the average age is over 50. Most of the people I work with are between 60 and 80. I have at least 15 clients who are over the age of 80. It’s a passion of mine.” He has studied kinesiology and physical therapy and is a certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. When it comes to the role a personal trainer can play in getting or keeping an older person fit, he has a lot of information to share, and he shares it in a confident, straight-forward manner. “Preserving mobility and function are the big goals. What are the things the person needs to do in their daily activities?” He answers his own question: “Walk, get off a chair, get off the toilet, get out of bed.”
Vieira sees personal training as a very helpful approach to maintaining mobility and stability and preserving muscle mass and bone density in an aging body. He adds that surviving a fall is another huge goal. “Being able to get up and down off the floor can save your life.” You always have to start at the place where someone is safe and can experience success. Vieira springs into action and demonstrates a half dozen exercises – squats, farmer’s carry, rowing, planks, deadlift, and bird dog – while explaining how they would benefit an older person. “As we get older,” he says, “we tend to round forward. That affects our stability and increases the risk of falling. We have to keep our posture tall, strengthen the backside of the body, and create length and flexibility in the front.”
Silver Sneakers In the realm of elder fitness, Silver Sneakers is a big deal. They are a national program with a website that aims to be at the very center of your fitness and wellbeing as you age. There is a system to determine if you are eligible through Medicare to use their services for free. Resources include an extensive schedule of live, online classes that you can join, a library of on-demand videos that you can watch anytime, and a huge network of community organizations who offer in-person Silver Sneakers workouts. My experience is with in-person classes at the South County YMCA led by an always positive, upbeat dynamo named Taylor Murphy. A classic Silver Sneakers class uses four pieces of equipment: a chair, hand held weights, resistance bands, and a rubber ball about the size of a soccer ball. For 45 minutes a group of about 30 is guided through non-stop exercises, set to music, designed to increase muscular strength, range of motion, balance and activities for daily living. Directions include encouragement to do it all at your own pace; to speed up or slow down based on what feels right to you; to use heavier or lighter weights; and to exercise seated in the chair or standing up. It is a friendly, social, non-competitive environment. Everyone talks freely with each other and the instructor. There is a lot of laughter, and a good song – for example “Shout” by The Isley Brothers – can really get the whole group into party mode. Give it a try! Watch a video or two on the website to get the idea. Then sign up for in-person classes. You’ll have a great time.
Chair Yoga
Linda Morse leads chair yoga at several locations around Rhode Island. She is a character – funny, smart, and engaging. She explains to me, “Yoga means yoke and what you’re yoking together when you do yoga is body, mind, and spirit.” True wellness and fitness, she says, must involve all three. “Some people think they need a drill instructor to get fit. I’m more like a cruise director – a cruise director on ‘The Love Boat.’ I want people to fall in love with themselves all over again. Thank your body – each and every part – for what it does for you. Never chide it for what it can’t do. Just notice it with equanimity.” The yoga practice begins with close attention to the breath and its effect on body and mind. Then there is a slow, detailed inventory of the body and all the ways it can move: head and neck, shoulders, hands and arms, spine and core, legs and feet. The actions you are invited to do include pivot, squeeze, stretch, hunch, extend, fold, bend, unwind, circle, rotate, and “moving in any way that feels good.” Along the way Morse suggests small adjustments. It is all gentle but yet the next morning I sure know I had a workout! Chair yoga is ubiquitous. There are many fine teachers. However, I’m going to make the bold claim that Linda Morse is well worth seeking out and that you won’t regret taking a little cruise on “The Love Boat.”
About that New Year’s resolution to work out three times a week, that’s boring, and you probably won’t do it. Try this instead: In the coming year I’m going to let my body surprise me by doing something I didn’t know it could do. I’m going to play around with activities that make me feel more physically alive. •
