Margaret Banford

Five Fitness Tips that Could Prevent Poor Health in Old Age. 1. Walk around more Walking is arguably better for you than running, since it’s low-impact and low-stress – a perfect exercise for someone who has joint issues, or is trying to ease into exercise. Walking is also easy to include in your daily routine because it doesn’t require buying any special equipment or going to any special places, and studies have linked regular walking to everything from an improved cardio-vascular system to a reduced chance of strokes. The columns which advise people to start their walking-journey by getting off the bus or the train a few stops early may seem trite, but every little helps! Currently the accepted minimum for walking every day is 10,000 steps – a little over two miles. This might seem like a lot, if you aren’t used to walking, but you’d be surprised how quickly the distances add up. 2. Do the ‘Batwing’ The move to a more sedentary lifestyle has included a focus on jobs which are primarily carried out while sitting down, be it at a computer or simply at a desk. Not only does spending most of our hours in a sitting position weaken the lower back, leading to back pain and weakness in general, the motion of hunching forward, carried out over the years of work, works to prematurely shorten the muscles in the back and shoulders. This will lead to you developing a permanent stoop if it is not corrected. Fortunately, there is an exercise which can work to fix this habit of hunching over, and it can be done in the time it takes to boil the kettle for tea. To do the Batwing, stand about a foot away from a wall, and carefully lean back against it without moving your feet from their current position. When your back is against the wall, slowly bend your arms at the elbow, until your thumbs are level with your armpits. Hold the pose for ten seconds, bring your arms back down to your sides, and repeat. Doing this regularly will help with any damage. 3. Build some strength While walking is good general exercise, and running has its advantages, neither of them are enough on their own. There is proven evidence to say that any kind of resistance training (exercises focused on strength) acts to strengthen bones, reduce your risk of osteoporosis, and possibly also reduce the risk of dementia. Again, needing to do resistance training doesn’t mean that you need to join a gym – though by all means do if you want to – you can do press-ups at home during the adverts on TV, or even invest in a pull-up bar to do the same thing. Of course, these are only two examples – look up resistance training on the internet and see what exercises work for you. The best way to handle these exercises is to do many short sets, which is why doing them while the adverts are on TV is a good plan. 4. Stand up four times an hour Chairs are increasingly being seen as a bad thing, despite us becoming a more and more sedentary society – they constrict our circulation, they cause muscles to stiffen and tighten up, they make your backside fall asleep… More companies now are implementing changes which can combat the excessive sitting, such as walk-along meetings and standing desks, but not all companies can or want to do these things. If you are part of a company which doesn’t have these things in place, never fear! The solution is simple! Stand up a few times an hour. Every fifteen minutes will suffice. 5. Do ‘loaded carries’ While resistance training, as we mentioned above, is good for your body, certain types of resistance training have been shown to be better than others. Loaded carries are a form of workout which consists of (you guessed it) carrying heavy things while walking. Not only do you get the benefits of walking, but you will have an additional workout for your lower back, and your grip too. It’s easy enough to incorporate such a workout into your day, particularly if you are already making an effort to walk – just start carrying heavy objects, and job done!