With weights of 3 to 10 kg on both hands, this is the single best exercise for seniors. You will live a beautiful life with no knee pain and weak hips. Best of all, there is no need for expensive gym equipment.
And there is no need for any medication.
Look around you and see the number of elderly people who spend thousands of dollars on knee rehabilitation and doctor visits.
They can’t get rid of the pain, but learn to live with the pain and still be miserable every day, consuming all the painkillers they can get. This is the only hope they have, never realizing that day by day they are getting worse.
I am not a doctor, a personal trainer, or even a certified coach. I’m a guy who has tried to pay attention to the happenings of the elderly. Go to a hospital ward or an old folks’ home and observe the pain most of them go through. This will really open up your thoughts.
Like others, I started having knee, hip, and back pain. I have even received opinions from doctors and physiotherapists. Almost everyone I met was biased towards some kind of sale or business.
I tried to understand why some people, even at a very late age, are still strong and do not have symptoms of weak knees. I “peered” into their way of life and discovered that numerous factors contributed to their current situation.
What Is One Of The Biggest Health Fears For Elderly Citizens?
The most feared worry is becoming immobile due to fractured hips or knee pain in later age. One fear is also needing someone to help you get to the toilet or wash you up in bed. I wouldn’t want that and always want to do personal things on my own.
We have heard or seen someone drop inside the toilet, and unfortunately, it is due to a fractured hip or leg bone. Why the toilet?
It is because a slight imbalance can throw you off course. In the first place, the bones are all porous and a little fall can hurt. These are the reasons people start to slide into death after that.
An X-ray shows that the bones are very porous and easily broken. Why does this happen? Many shrug their shoulders and accept that this is just part of the aging process, which I feel is not correct.
Moreover, as we age, we experience all kinds of problems. We lose balance easily, maybe due to poor body health, issues on the inner side of the ears (where it functions as a body balancer) or old age medications.
Have you noticed that once a person knows they have weak bones, they start taking glucosamine and all the bone-strengthening foods? Has it ever worked? You always want the easy way out. It is good business for the manufacturer, but for us it is just a hope.
I feel that if we can somehow, through our aging, stop using any parts of the body, it will start weakening. If we continue exercising the parts, then they will maintain their strength.
Another example for easier understanding is that if we stop using our teeth when eating tough food, the teeth will start falling off earlier in life.
So, What is the Best Single Exercise for Seniors?
Just having two weights 3 to 10 kg, depending on the strength of a person. One in each hand, knees bent, and it looks like you are going to sit down and stand up. It’s just low enough that you can’t go any lower.
It is the Squat Exercise.
If you have no idea of how the exercise should be done, the below video will show you exactly how to start off. He explains the importance of balance and getting a chair to help you out with the correct posture and methods first.
If you have pain, start the exercise with no weights and do it slowly. Sometimes, pain is good. Start with five up-and-down movements in three sets. Evaluate yourself and see how you feel each time. The goal is to improve the numbers each day.
Access yourself and see if you can do more. Progress every day with more of this exercise and progress with weights next. Soon, you realize you are doing more than you initially started, and you feel comfort in your knees.
After each exercise, try walking from one corner to another after a set and then continue working on it. There is no right or wrong answer for this exercise. You can do more or less. It all depends on you.
If you are young, start doing these exercises as part of your exercise schedule so that you will not have any knee or hip pain in your older age. Most of us prefer doing this with all the sophisticated weights at the gym like the Multi Station or the Exercise Bikes.
While waiting to get to the gym, just work at home with a few sets first. It can be considered a warmup too, and it may become a routine part of life. In fact, you can do squats any time of the day.
How Will Squat Exercise Benefit Us?
By working out frequently on the exercises, you will soon realize you can do more, which means you are improving day by day.
These squats will strengthen many muscles in the lower body, especially the joints. Yes, you will complain of aches initially, but the more you work on the “pain”, the more it goes away, i.e., the pain.
You will also have better balance, like a young person, as your muscles get stronger. You will soon realize you have better movements and walking will be fun.
In Conclusion,
The squat exercises are just one of the exercises I do frequently, and personally, I have seen many changes. You will definitely see an improvement in the way you move with a high degree of confidence.
Again, I would like to mention that this article is about the single best exercise for seniors, and I believe deeply that it will help everyone who delves into it frequently. I would also like to mention that I am not a doctor or a specialist in any field of health giving advice to replace them.
Just try it yourself and see if you can do it. All the best.