Exercise is important for everyone. This is especially so for older adults, as many become less active as they age, which leaves them susceptible to serious health conditions like poor bone strength, memory issues, obesity, and cardiovascular disease.
Regular exercise can help to improve overall health; it increases strength and balance, decreases depression, and delays the onset of age-related diseases. Therefore, it is recommended for one to adopt the healthy habit of exercising even during their later years.
Here are 5 tips to help you encourage your loved ones to exercise regularly:
Join an Exercise Group
There are many opportunities for group exercise – all you have to do is join an exercise class! With the help of friends in the group, it may encourage your loved ones to continue keeping fit instead of quitting halfway through.
Group mates can share tips and strategies for each exercise technique, and help to simplify the activities whilst enhancing personal relationships with each other. When older adults exercise with other people, they often feel more encouraged and can maintain positive thoughts throughout the workout.
Come Up with a Reward System
Whenever your loved one achieves a fitness target, reward them! This could be a favorite meal, a trip to the movies or local sports game, or even gift cards to be used at a local store.
The idea of receiving gifts after completing a goal could be beneficial in motivating your loved ones to exercise more. This is a powerful method because our brain often responds with positive behavior when it perceives a resulting reward. This will surely help your loved ones to maintain a consistent exercise routine.
Take Small Steps
Encourage your loved ones to start small, especially if they are not used to regular exercise. After all, nothing feels more demoralizing than jumping straight into an intense regime and failing to keep up.
You may choose to break up the routine into simpler milestone goals. For example, starting with 30 minutes of exercise twice a week before progressing to 30-45 minute routines four times a week would be more achievable. You may also increase your loved one’s motivation to exercise by adapting the activities to suit their current abilities.
Discuss the Benefits
One motivational strategy for inspiring your loved ones to maintain a healthy exercise routine is to educate them on the advantages of exercising. Whilst this includes the physical benefits of health, you may also want to remind them of additional benefits. For example, you can encourage them to go on their morning walk through the neighborhood as they can visit their friends whilst getting a breath of fresh air!
Listing the benefits of daily exercises is a good motivator, even if your loved ones only work out for half an hour every couple of days.
Show Them That Exercising is Fun
Exercising does not always have to be jogging or going to the gym to work out, especially if you find these boring! Instead, you may choose to help your loved ones think of fun activities and change up their routine once in a while.
Some fun activities include outdoor hiking, swimming, dancing, and bowling. Having an enjoyable activity to take part in can easily boost their motivation to carry on keeping fit.
