Senior training program: which sports for over 60s

Focus on beneficial sports training for athletes over 60

Sixty ... the ideal age when your professional and personal life changes dramatically, retirement is on its way ... and your body is aging. Don't panic, sport is then your ally to make you feel as good in your body as in your head… make way for a sporting retirement! For a healthy mind in a healthy body over the age of 60. Indeed, being in good shape after 60 and maintaining regular physical and sporting activity is essential for the health of the body and the organism. What exercises, what sports training to practice for athletes over 60? What are the benefits for seniors? Featness takes stock.

Concretely, what is aging?

Getting older doesn't necessarily mean putting on green velvet pants and endlessly repeating that "it was better before" in front of the 1 pm TV News. No, no ... stop this totally outdated cliché!

Physically, what happens in the body of a senior over 60?

Between the ages of 30 and 60, the muscles weigh half as much. Another effect of aging on the body: increased bone density leading to loss of strength, loss of balance and weakening of the joints. The advantage of aging is that everyone necessarily goes through this, but does not dramatize, getting back in shape at 60 and keeping it is possible!

Seniors or younger, when you are aware of the physical changes in your body as the years go by, you understand the benefits of physical activity and sports that help you age better and maintain your health.

What effects does sport have on aging?

It's simple, practicing a sports activity delays the aging of cells, which is why top-level athletes often make them younger ... Yes, that's their secret! ?

Getting serious about regular physical activity has many benefits for your body: it stimulates your brain, your coordination and promotes balance. In addition to fighting against cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack, rigorously following a sports training program with a series of specific sports exercises to keep in shape when you are over 60 years old works your memory.

In addition, participating in physical activity prevents you from being overweight due to inactivity. Are you used to being sedentary? Take advantage of your retirement to lose calories and stay in shape. Senior yes. In good health to enjoy life to the fullest, it’s even better!

Hiking, brisk walking and running: cardio exercises after 60

The physical activity particularly suitable for seniors to work on their cardio is undoubtedly walking, otherwise called sport walking, brisk walking or active walking... Not to mention all its derivatives such as Nordic walking which reconciles sport walking and hiking. . It is recommended for seniors suffering from obesity, diabetes or joint problems.

Sport walking is an elementary sport activity, easily practiced wherever you are. Walking calls on the whole body without rushing it. Hyper beneficial sport-health point: sport walking helps prevent and slow down osteoporosis. Its more "sporty" version, senior hiking, produces positive effects on the cardio-respiratory system by working your breath, especially above 1,500 m altitude.

Focus on the benefits of cardio training for seniors

Are you a seasoned retired athlete who would rather prevent heart disease than sit in front of a screen in full physical inactivity? Running is therefore an endurance activity that works your entire heart and vascular system. Be careful not to do this activity if you have breathing problems or severe osteoarthritis in the knee or hip.

Other beneficial effects can be mentioned through cardio training: these types of exercises focus on endurance and not on athletic performance, protect and strengthen your heart. Long, light activities fight high blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases such as cholesterol and diabetes.

Soft gymnastics or how to practice sports activities adapted to strengthen the muscles of seniors

After 60 years, we strongly advise you to do gentle gymnastics. Group classes in a fitness room, classes at home in your living room fitted out as a gym with a home sports coach… you have the choice!

Soft gymnastics offers a wide variety of exercises that help build your whole body, tone it, work on your flexibility and coordination. Soft gymnastics is a program particularly suitable for muscle building in athletes over 60.

After all, why not get yourself coached by Featness? With Featness, follow a personalized six-week program, adapted to your physical capacities, your age and the small aches that can slow you down.

Some examples of soft gymnastic exercises for your muscle building after 60 years

For an optimal workout, you can start with 15 minutes of brisk walking or an elliptical trainer and then follow up with a few exercises that work on the whole body:

• squats,
• push-ups (on the knees),
• prints with elastic bands,
• or sit-ups.

A tip for playing sports without having to spend on expensive sports equipment: use the furniture in your house such as furniture chairs to train directly at home: the heel-buttock while holding the chair, the squat chair, strengthening glutes and abs.

Gentle physical activities: yoga or aquagym or how to move regularly while remaining zen

Do you want a more “zen” approach to your sport? Yoga is then made for you, to go smoothly in strengthening your muscles, but also to maintain your flexibility of yesteryear.

Another approach to gentle physical activity for older bodies: if you like swimming, why not try the aqua gym, a gentle sport particularly suitable for seniors? Indeed, immersed in water, the body weighs only 70% of its weight, which makes the movements carried out in the water easier to achieve. Water aerobics works on muscle and respiratory tone. Another beneficial effect: this activity improves blood circulation and strengthens the cardiovascular rhythm, preventing many circulatory diseases.

The benefits of muscle building in seniors

Muscle building and gentle weight training protect your joints, increase the strength of your muscles around your joints, reduce the effects of movement impacts on your skeleton. In short, that benefits for your health.

Exercising after 60: stretching, an essential step in keeping in shape

Warming up before sports training is essential, but the most important thing is the stretching after your intensive workout, an even more important step for senior athletes. Stretching protects your joints and helps the production of synovial fluid the joint needs to move. Stretching is therefore essential for starting and concluding a special senior sports training program.

Featness, an intergenerational fitness app

Featness offers personalized support based on your physical condition and adapts to your slower pace. Why not test our app and start sports training to get back in shape and enjoy life to the fullest after 60?

It's simple, with a few clicks, download your personalized sports training application, Featness, to your smartphone, which accompanies you step by step in the daily practice of sport. Go to the PlayStore and the App Store.

Publié le 28/10/2022