Exercise Program and Strength Training For Older Adults.

exercise to improve your fitness

For many older adults, even a walk to the car tires them easily. A research program, sponsored by the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, and the University of Michigan Health System, is measuring the effects of a moderate intensity aerobic exercise program among older adults.

Through aerobic circuit-training, these older men and women will help researchers determine if this type of exercise program can help older men and women more easily perform basic tasks of daily living.

“Many older adults don't have enough endurance and they get fatigued easily. So our goal is to improve their endurance and reduce their fatigue in doing everyday tasks,” says Neil Alexander, M.D., director of the Mobility Research Center at the U-M Geriatrics Center.

Alexander notes many older adults have problems with their joints or get too short of breath or fatigued to participate in standard high intensity aerobic activity. For them, a less intense program might still be beneficial.

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“We feel that you don't need to exercise to your absolute maximum. You can still benefit and improve your physical activity and function without exhausting yourself,” says Alexander, associate director for research at the VA Ann Arbor Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center.

“The purpose of the study is to see whether an exercise program as a circuit can improve daily functional performance and physical activity. The program utilizes stations, putting together types of activities that you might have to string together in a consecutive manner, to simulate the stresses and demands daily activity might require. We also have some additional measures of oxygen uptake, which is done in the laboratory to see if the participant's ability to utilize oxygen has improved as a result of this program,” Alexander says.

Each station simulates a typical daily demand task, such as having to pick up something, walk in place or step up. The idea is for participants to maintain a certain heart rate level while performing these tasks.

One of the goals of the program is to translate some of these exercises into daily physical tasks at home. Alexander says, “We work with the participants to start doing more stairs, walking further distances, walking down to the mailbox maybe more then once a day.”

Seniors participating in the study already feel it has improved their lifestyle. “I had a problem with balance and the doctor said exercise might help. Since I started this program I think I breathe better and I know that I have more strength and I can do things longer with less stress,” says 88-year-old Kay Doherty.

Exercise improves circulation, strengthens muscles and allows an individual to lose weight and relieve stress, say experts at the U-M Health System. For older adults, exercise programs help increase mobility and endurance, enabling them to maintain independence by performing their daily activities with relative ease.

U-M Health System experts note other physical benefits of regular exercise, including decreasing blood pressure, total cholesterol, and blood sugar. At the same time, exercise also increases metabolic rate, which means an individual will burn more calories before exercising. In addition to physical benefits, exercise provides emotional benefits by improving one's sense of well-being, improving sleep and relieving depression.

An effective exercise program

According to the National Institute on Aging, four “building blocks” comprise an exercise program that will help older adults achieve significant health benefits. These components are:

Most importantly, the results show that single-set regimens remain an effective option for improving muscular fitness in long-term recreational weightlifters.

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Learn the techniques and principles of exercise, then practice for mastery. Watch a fitness professional demonstrate the technique or machine, then work on it while he/she watches you and comments on body alignment, breathing, and other principles. Self-efficacy will build as you practice performing the exercise correctly.

We know that aging means losing muscle mass, which brings on a reduction in strength, risk of falls and impaired functional ability.

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