Are Bodyweight Exercises Okay for Seniors?
Posted: Sunday, October 31, 2010
by Donovan Baldwin
No Diet 4 Me
First of all, for those who might not be sure of what a "bodyweight exercise" is, let's just take a moment to clarify.
A bodyweight type of exercise is one in which you use the weight of your body to provide resistance. Common examples are pushups, chin-ups, and squats, without weights, obviously. To answer the question posed in the title of this article, there is no intrinsic reason why these types of exercises should be omitted from a senior exercise program.
A bodyweight exercise can demand that a large amount of weight be moved by only a few specific muscles. In addition to tasking these specific muscles beyond their accustomed levels of performance and stress, joints can also be involved. As we age, muscles and joints tend to become weaker, less efficient, and more susceptible to injury.
The pushups you could easily do in high school, or in the army, might be far beyond your present capabilities. However, training is always an issue, and, whatever your level of fitness and ability at the beginning of an exercise program, you can probably train up to higher levels of proficiency over time.
Another point to consider is that a bodyweight exercise, such as the pushup, can involve a great many body parts and muscle groups at one time. In practice, this is quite different from performing a muscle specific exercise, such as the bench press. This can add to the level of difficulty experienced by the senior exerciser.
These issues are important, of course, and they will impact the regular, and correct, performance of these exercises, especially when they are first introduced as part of an exercise program.
Obviously, a senior should consult with a competent medical professional before beginning any exercise regimen or before making major changes to an existing one.
Assuming, however, that the individual is healthy enough, there should be no direct objection to doing bodyweight exercises as part of any senior exercise program.
On the other hand, because of the possible difficulty of the exercises compared to the fitness of the individual, it may be necessary to ease into them in some way. For example, while doing a series of pushups might be difficult, you could start by doing pushups against a wall. Gradually, move your feet farther from the wall and this will increase the stress on the muscles of the arms, shoulders, and chest. This type of pushup allows you to gradually increase the work done by the muscles of the upper body, while minimizing the physical stress on the core and leg muscles.
In this manner, someone can gradually work up to knee pushups and eventually to regular style pushups.
Another simple method is simply to start with one or two repetitions of the exercise at each workout, gradually increasing the number over time as muscles strengthen.
Someone wanting to do a particular bodyweight exercise can ease into it sometimes by performing similar resistance exercises with equipment until they have built specific muscles up to the point where they can take on the task of performing the bodyweight exercise. Again, using the pushup as an example, someone could train with the bench press until they have built up the strength in their arms and chest.
If, however, you have access to a piece of apparatus such as a weight bench, why bother with bodyweight exercises in the first, or last, place?
Well, as pointed out earlier, a pushup tasks a broader range of muscles, including core muscles, than a muscle specific exercise. This allows an exerciser to get more "bang for the buck" as it were, and, since bodyweight exercises require no exercise equipment to perform and can be done almost anywhere, the exerciser is freed from the burden of having, or having access to, a broad range of exercise equipment.
The ability to perform bodyweight exercises can also be quite beneficial in preparing a senior exercise advocate to participate in other physical activities such as gardening, hiking, or even sports.
While bodyweight exercises can be an important part of a senior exercise program, they should be approached with caution but with the intention of eventually including them into your regular workout.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Donovan Baldwin is a 65-year-old accountant, amateur bodybuilder, freelance writer, certified optician, and Internet marketer currently living in the Atlanta, Gerogia area. A University Of West Florida alumnus (1973) with a BA in accounting, he has been a member of Mensa and has been a Program Accountant for the Florida State Department of Education, the Business Manager of a community mental health center, and a multi-county Fiscal Consultant for an educational field office. He has also been a trainer for a major international corporation, and has managed various small businesses, including his own. After retiring from the U. S. Army in 1995, with 21 years of service, he became interested in Internet marketing and developed various online businesses. He has been writing poetry, articles, and essays for over 40 years, and now frequently publishes original articles on his own websites and for use by other webmasters. His blog, Fitness After 40, can be found at http://fitness-after-40.blogspot.com .
This Article has been viewed 908 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)What is a chin-up? Aside from being the kind of exercise that lifts spirits rather than bodies!
Interesting article with lots of good information Donovan. Thanks for sharing.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.