EXERCISING SAFELY

 

Exercise is an important part of keeping well as we age, but as with most activities, there are right ways and wrong ways to go about it. To prevent injury, follow these recommendations from orthopedic surgeons and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

• Find out what safety equipment is needed for your activity, and use it. If it has been a while since you last participated in the activity, there may be novel protective gear or improved technology in newer equipment. You might want to invest in new items such as shoes with greater support or a bicycle helmet. 
  

• Before using a new piece of exercise equipment such as a treadmill or stair climbing machine, read the owner’s manual or instructions carefully.  Or if you are at a gym, have an instructor give you a quick lesson to ensure you know how to program and use the machine and how to stop it quickly if necessary. Similarly, if you’ve never done any weight training before, it’s a good idea to have an instructor teach you the basics and provide a program to follow. 
  

• You’ve heard it before, but it bears repeating: warm up your muscles before you exercise. A five-minute warm-up activity can be as simple as five minutes of walking (it’s best if you pump your arms more strongly than usual) or riding a stationary bike. 
  

• Try to exercise for at least 30 minutes a day. You don’t have to do the whole half hour at once. You can do two 15-minute periods or three 10-minute periods, for example.
  
  

• If your exercise routine becomes too easy, you won’t get enough benefit from it. You must gradually intensify it. But remember the 10-percent rule, which says that you shouldn’t increase the intensity of your exercise (the distance you walk or cycle, or the number of steps you climb, or amount of weight you lift) by more than 10 percent each week. 
  

• Have you heard the term “cross-training”? It is a way to exercise various muscles in your body and keep you from becoming bored by doing the “same old thing”. Try to avoid doing only one activity and following the same routine day after day. To cross-train, you might want to walk one day, swim the next, play tennis on another day, and even lift weights a couple of days a week. It’s up to you. 
  

• If you feel discomfort, pain or excessive shortness of breath, stop exercising. You may have some muscle stiffness when you first start a workout program. But if you have persistent discomfort or swelling, see a physician.  

 

How to Exercise in a Wheelchair

 

If you are confined to a wheelchair, exercises that increase strength, flexibility and muscle tone can aid weight control and digestion. Increasing upper body strength will also strengthen the heart and lungs. Here are several suggestions to get you started.

 

Step 1:
Eat a snack or light meal one hour before beginning exercise.

 

Step 2:
Warm up with 5 to 10 minutes of stretches before exercising.

 

Step 3:
Begin with resistance training. This can be done using resistance bands attached to a door handle, a stationary hook or the arm of the wheelchair. Pull the bands towards you or away from you to work muscles. Resistance bands are available in low, medium and high resistances.

 

Step 4:
Start with lighter, warm-up resistance bands then gradually increase the resistance between sets. Check out Bill Phillips upper body weight-training workout at bodyforlife.com. He gives detailed information about how many repetitions and sets you should perform for a good workout.

 

Step 5:
Exhale as you lift and inhale as you lower the resistance bands.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Exercises For You In Your Wheelchair
http://ezinearticles.com/?Exercises-For-You-In-Your-Wheelchair&id=584244   

 

   Wheelchair Exercises

http://www.thewheelchairsite.com/exercise/    

 

Buff and Brainy Exercising the body can benefit the mind http://www.hdlighthouse.org/treatment-care/care/hdltriad/exercise/updates/1243bdnf.php  

 

Buff and Brainy Foods may affect the brain as well as the body  http://www.bri.ucla.edu/bri_weekly/news_060319.asp  

 

How Walking Buffs Your Brain

 

You lace up your walking shoes, stretch, and set out on a brisk walk…all with the goal of being fit and healthy. What you might not know is that your walk benefits your mind just as much as your body. Recent research finds that physical activity is good for mental skills, too.

Simple forms of steady exercise, such as walking, give you the best mental boost. Walking improves your ability to make decisions, solve problems, and focus. Even small doses of walking, like a 15-minute trek, can increase your brain power.

These benefits are not just short term. The mental perks continue long after your body has cooled down from a walk.

 

 

http://www.pbs.org/americaswalking/index.html