Know what you want to achieve

It is important to start with a plan. Fitness over 50 years old from men and women works out best over time when you have a plan. Any good plan starts with knowing what you want. In this case it may be weight loss, strength, endurance or flexibility. Your goal may be a balance of all of these, it is where your plan starts. The plan will probably include more than one of these which is good, but they should be prioritized. If you are not sure about putting a plan together you can consult a trainer. You can do this at different levels, maybe you just want them to design a workout specific to you. You may want them to monitor and advise you during workouts. It’s up to you, but they can really help keep you on track. They definitely can help you with the plan. If that isn’t for you, you may just get good book on the topic, Books or Videos can be helpful on some that area really affordable and useful.

Know your limitations

Everyone over 50 has physical limitations, make sure you let your doctor know your plan, make sure you make the doctor aware of any health concerns you have. If some part of your body hurts, make sure you understand the fitness plan is going to help and not aggravate the area of pain. Also discuss your diet with your doctor, talk about how your diet should change. Your body will also let you know what your limitations are, however, like mentioned before, you must be sure you are strengthening your body and not increasing an injury. Over time with fitness you will be able to detect much of this yourself. Being over 50 you should plan less impact type exercises and more yoga type exercises. Try to avoid joint impact, focus on range of motion and strength. Cardio on exercise equipment and in pools fit in nice.

Your cardio exercises should be at least 20 minutes long and 3 times a week minimum. Most classes are longer than this but they have stretching and breaks to pace you. Make sure you have good shoes, I have been a runner most my life, shoes make a huge difference in workouts and daily activity. Good running shoes can really take a lot of pain away in your legs and back. Lower back pain is much more common in people over 50. I think shoes can really help with this as well as proper stretches and warm up.

Technology works for you as well, there are many devices out there to help monitor your performance. This is almost a must for all ages. It can help warn you of potential health issues as well as keeping you from overdoing it. The most popular now is fitbit. These are not worn just in workouts but all day long. They vary in features and options but most of the functionality is the same.

Like any new plan, make sure you have it recorded

Have a plan, and have a backup plan. If you have a plan to go walk at a park each morning, make plans in case it rains. You may go to a mall or some other place. It is a huge failure factor when you don’t have back up plans. You skip one workout, the next day you cut out part, pretty soon you have phased out the whole plan. It is important to make sure if it rains or if your fitness partner can’t make it you have plans to work out anyway in another way. Make it realistic, I would limit workouts to no more than an hour but your trainer may disagree based on your circumstances.

Part of your plan is recording your activity in your work out. This will give you insight over time, you may change the way you are doing your work out if you are not getting the results you want. It motivates you to continue. When you skip a day, you will feel guilty, this is OK, its motivation. You shoul vary your workouts, this way it seems fresh and new, it will affect your results. You then develop your own best practices. The key is to plan, record, measure, adjust, start over with planning.

It is often agreed that the best time to work out is in the morning. This gets you up and moving and leaves you with a feeling of achievement first thing in the morning, thus setting the pace for the rest of the day. This also gets it out of the way, people who want to work out later in the day have the chance of more obstacles getting in the way. You put it off an hour, than another, then you promise yourself to do extra tomorrow and you skip it altogether.

Plan non work out activities, be more physical during the day. Take the stairs, park a little further away. Don’t ask other to do physical acts for you. Do them yourself. Stretch a little during the day, flexibility is key to mobility. Move around, stay active. Try not to sit for extended times, plan small physical activities throughout the day.

examples

The examples are endless, for the individual, it can cover about any area of life. We will offer tips and direction on the more common areas. We will have articles on weight loss, fitness, finacial, relationships and more. Below we start with a couple examples on how this site works with specific topics

Plan a pace to ramp up your fitness. The soreness and aches and pain in the beginning need to be minimized. This may require day by day adjustments based on everyone individually. You do not want to start too aggressive, you may end up with an injury or excessive soreness and ending your fitness plans. Everyone is different and ages differently with different health challenges. The one thing people have in common over 50 is we hurt, often for no reason. This is why exercise plans have to be very customized mostly as a tradeoff between pain and results.

Also to avoid start up pain you should make sure you are doing exercises properly and if you are doing a lot on your feet, make sure you have proper shoes. A trainer is often the best way to make sure exercises are being done proper, but there are other ways. Having someone to work out with, watching videos, illustrations and pain. Often if you’re doing an exercise wrong you will feel it, either you will feel pain or maybe you are just not getting results.

Find training Partners

Often in your circles you will have several people with the same fitness intentions but they have not acted. They are just waiting for the opportunity to start, a training partner or partners. This will make it more fun and create mutual support for fitness success. You may even join a gym, they offer several classes in a wide variety of fitness. These are very beneficial. You get an instant support group, often lots of good advice and tips from the class instructors and it again makes it more fun. This also draws you in socially, you will find people in similar circumstances and more support and motivation.

You should be ready to work out alone. It will really give you a chance to focus on your workout, the physical stress, various pain and reflection. Some people prefer this, it gives them time to reflect on things going on in their lives. You may mix it up, have some work outs alone and some with others. It all depends on what works for you.

Fitness is Definitely Partnered with Nutrition

Both must be addressed to meet your fitness goals. I always feel like I am solar powered and that anything I eat seems to just put on weight. Weight loss seems to get harder and harder with age. Good nutrition even if your goal is not weight loss is key to your fitness plan. You can find a specialist in this area or you can find a good book. Here are a couple options. 4 Offers: Fat Burning Kitchen, 101 Anti-aging Foods , Wesley Virgin New Anti Aging Offer.

Some people wonder about various supplements, I personally have had mixed results. Some, I can’t tell they do anything, others do seem to help. It is almost a person by person selection process. Try what you think should fit your needs, if after a few weeks you can’t feel a difference, try something else. These I found are not a magic pill but if you feel it helps, keep it up. People over fifty have different requirements than younger people. Here are a few we have reviewed.

Conclusion

There are countless studies and medical information stressing the benefits of fitness as we get older. The benefits include everything from relieving joint pain to a sharper mind as well as improved mobility. It also has social aspects of interacting with people as well as just being engaged in life. I personally found fitness inspires a person, it helps your mindset, confidence and self-image. It also helps with sleep issues, I know many older people develop sleep issues, a regular fitness schedule can help set that sleep schedule as well.