Circuit Training for Seniors

Circuit training allows your body to receive a total fitness work out. It incorporates both cardiovascular and resistance training as well as stretching. This tests the body’s strength, flexibility and endurance. Seniors are increasingly taking up circuit training in order to give their entire body the fitness work out it needs for long term health. Circuit training can be as intensive as you like and there are many gyms now offering dedicated circuit training classes to seniors.

Perhaps you never heard of circuit training until recently, it’s definitely not the exercise routines that were popular in your youth. When you were young, seniors were encouraged to be couch potatoes. Ladies were not supposed to break a sweat. Those days are long gone. More and more seniors want to lead active interesting lives and that requires stamina and pretty good physical conditioning.

Circuit training is all about variety, timing, and repetitions at a level that challenges but does not harm the participant. Seniors should start circuit training at a mild intensity level in order to let their body become accustomed to the new movements. Intensity can gradually increase with time. Circuit training, unlike weight training, involves working out for a certain period of time on each exercise, rather than focusing on the weight as in weight training. There is usually not much rest in between the different circuit exercises so it is not unusual to feel a little puffed the first few times as your body gets used to this new form of exercise.

Circuit training always includes warm up and cool down stretches. This ensures the muscles are not pulled and that circulation is flowing. New circuit training members will generally have slightly longer breaks in between exercises and often a dedicated break half way through the session. As people improve their fitness, breaks become shorter and workouts increase in intensity.

Circuit training can include exercise like step climbing, light weights, treadmill walking and jogging, stretches, cycling, sit ups, push ups and even skipping or jumping jacks. Your instructor will let you know which exercises are included in your routine.

Seniors should join a circuit training program that fits their level of physical fitness. For example, some active seniors enjoy spinning (on a bike), while others get out of breath just thinking about it. Many of the more advanced exercise routines are simply too intense for older seniors, but may be just right for boomers. Seniors do not want to injure themselves by doing exercises which are too strenuous on the body and heart. Ideally the circuit trainer should have a very good idea of what sort of exercises will benefit seniors, and as such be able to formulate a training routine that incorporates all activities that seniors can undertake.

Circuit training is affordable. Many health insurance plans will pay for membership at a local YMCA/YWCA or gym. If the idea of walking on a treadmill or using a Cybex machine is terrifying, you might want to start with the Silver Sneakers programs that are geared to older retirees.

Seniors can benefit from circuit training in many ways including improving the heart, assisting the muscles and bones by keeping them active, meeting new people, and reducing stress. Circuit training is an inexpensive and fun way to keep up your fitness levels whilst enjoying the company of other seniors at the same time.

Category: Fitness -Tags: Circuit training, senior fitness, Sliver Sneakers