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A Fun Senior Workout: Revisiting Old Pastimes
   

The Top 3 Most Enjoyable Exercise Activities for Seniors

If you are looking for new ways to enjoy working your body toward wellness, a bit of reminiscing may provide the activities you are looking for. What was once enjoyed does not have to stay a memory. Many of us have enjoyed a variety of sports in our youth. Why not dabble in the past to bring back some activities you once loved? Many seniors are rediscovering old sports and activities which they once enjoyed can be done with their current bodies. The agility and range of motion which scares seniors out of doing activities, which they once relished, does not have to be an issue if you respect the limits of your current self and take your sport little by little.

Dancing

One of the most pleasurable ways that seniors rediscover an old pastime is by meeting with dancing groups. Many seniors have found that dancing brings back all of the best memories about being alive and active. It is also one of the best forms of exercise which involves socialization and fun. Most cities have dance studios which offer lessons for all kinds of styles of dancing including ballroom, salsa and square dancing, to name a few. Groups of seniors are also getting together and renting space which will let them have old-fashioned line dances. Meeting with these dance groups provides plenty of energizing and lighthearted movement which can be a great senior workout.

If dancing was never your thing, that is not a problem. Some of us never felt graceful on our feet, but took to the water with ease. Many seniors are heading to the pool for some soothing, joint relieving time. Working your self up to a few more laps each week will bring back some of the vigor once enjoyed by a younger self. If you want to add a new edge to your revisited swim routine, try a water aerobics or water therapy class which plays on the challenging, but gentle, resistance of water for quite a workout.

Swimming

Sometimes motivating ourselves to get to the pool can be too much. Luckily, we can get exercise by just walking out of the house. Make sure that you have a nice pair of sneakers, and you can enjoy a morning or afternoon of walking your way to fitness. Seniors that have moved out of cities, or who no longer are in the routine of being out of the house, are not walking as often or as far as they used to. Find a new way to look at this oldest form of transportation and take yourself a little further or faster each day. The same can be said for bicycling. A nice, shock resistant bicycle can give you a sense of freedom and youthfulness.

Sports

Group or two-person sports that were old pastimes, like soccer, tennis, softball and basketball can be accessible again if your doctor does not have any protests. Get a small group together of your friends, or put up a sign at the local gym about starting a senior sports club. Rules can be broken down to take tension out wherever needed. Group sports are great at invigorating the body and will allow the mind to focus on the team rather than the self.

The truth is that almost anything you used to do can become your new workout. It is wonderful to take the “I used to...” out of a conversation and to let the body remember the various ways in which you once trained it, whether it was to pitch a ball or spike a volleyball. Getting a group of your seniors together and challenging them to join you on a toned down version of a sport all of you used to enjoy will rejuvenate your friendships and bodies. As long as everyone has permission from their doctor and rules are agreed on beforehand, taking on a group sport can work for seniors. Dancing is also wonderful because of its social effects and can be made as comfortable to the body as needed. Backstrokes and butterflies can come back easily to the latent swimmer, while walking is almost as much of a necessity to live as breathing. Picking up an old pastime can become your new workout and help you feel youthful again.

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by SolveYourProblem.com : 2006

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