High impact exercises for seniors.

​As we get into our forties and beyond, would it be a good idea to give high impact exercises a miss?
 After all the joints are starting to feel sore and you may be carrying a bit more weight than when you were younger.
 Surely the wear and tear of high impact exercises can’t be good for us in our senior years?

 Would you be surprised if the answer is; high impact exercises are pretty much essential for us as we age.

 The benefits of doing high impact exercises is maintaining good strong bones. This is important for both men and women but especially important for women when they go through menopause.
 There are some options that walking half an hour a day is enough to keep you fit in your senior years.
 I don not agree to this opinion. Walking is low impact and it will not make any significant improvement in your bone density. It might be enjoyable and it does obviously add to your weekly fitness regime but by no means is it a complete fitness package.
 If you combine walking with some weight bearing exercises, perhaps twice a week you are much closer to the complete fitness package. Weight bearing exercises are good for bone density but not as good as high impact exercises.
 So what would classify as high impact exercises?
 Jumping and running.
 How about skipping?
A lot of my PT clients do boing with me(Hitting pads). That is a brilliant high impact exercise mainly on the upper body.
 One thing you may not wanna do high impact exercises every day, we aren’t in our twenties anymore so perhaps high impact one day and rest or low impact the day after to help us recover.
 What if your joints are already affected by wear and tear and you are in constant pain.
 I would say high impact to a certain degree would still be beneficial even if you experience increased pain the day after.
 There are ways I modify exercises for my clients. Some do wall press-ups where the hands come off the wall and then you quickly put the hands back before your head hits the wall.
 I also have clients jumping up and down without actually jumping. Basically they swing their arms and use the momentum to jump but their feet never actually leave the ground, They basically come up on their toes and when they come down the feet act as a shock absorber. These medium impact aren’t a bad idea as they will be of some help in improving bone density.
 And if you can jump, you can skip and you can run. Well then it’s a good idea to keep that up.
You surely don’t want to end up being a statistic.15 % of people over 60 years of age who break their hip bone are dead within a year. Falls are inevitable. We do fall down from time to time and if your bones aren’t strong you may face consequences.
 I recently fell down when waking up for the toilet in the middle of the night.
 By: Abdi-Karim Berleen/Personal trainer in Loughton.