Eight Ideas for Outdoor Exercise for Active Seniors

Planning outdoor exercise sessions can be a terrific method to help your clients stay motivated and prevent lapses and subsequent relapses, whether they prefer the challenge of exercising outside in the summer sun or simply enjoy an outdoor stroll when the weather is pleasant. Currently, it's also probably safer to exercise outdoors than indoors, especially for elderly people and those in higher-risk groups. Here are eight suggestions to encourage older adult clients who are interested in staying active to go outside and find novel ways to receive enough physical activity.

Agility Drills

In order to prepare the body to quickly adjust its centre of mass across a shifting base of support, agility drills like side shuffles and skips can be thought of as a combination of dynamic balancing and vertical core training. Grab a spot in a park, mark out a 10-yard radius, and tell your client to walk in one direction while performing a variety of movements, then turn around and do the same thing in the opposite direction. Perform 2-4 reps of each of the following exercises: high knee jogging, heel-kicker jogging, lateral shuffling, back pedalling, forward skips, lateral skips, and backward skips.

Hiking

Hiking, running, and biking can all be enjoyed while observing all necessary health and safety precautions in your local parks. Encourage your clients to organise a hike in the outdoors with a friend as a way to be active, interact in person, and maintain a healthy distance from one another.

Walking the Dog

A fantastic method to get some extra movement time is to frequently walk the family pet. However, advise your clients to walk at a reasonable pace to enhance their health. Generally speaking, you are operating at a moderate intensity if you are walking at a pace that permits you to chat but not sing. If your client's dog is slowing them down, it's generally best to go solo when it comes to their fitness walks, so have them make an honest assessment. Another approach to gain extra exercise is to take a dog to a dog park to play fetch, especially if the client participates by playing an active game of catch or tag.

Cycling on Rail Trails

Bicycle pathways constructed on former railroad rights-of-way offer a variety of possibilities for those who like two-wheeled travel, including brief rides for work commutes, weekend training rides, and discovering a new area during a multiday cycling and camping trip. Rail trails offer a variety of opportunities for jogging, cycling, and strolling. They are a fantastic resource for outdoor fitness that many people frequently ignore. Encourage your consumers to look for one nearby and begin their search.

Mountain Biking

Although Generation Xers (born 1965–1980) are generally credited with the invention of outdoor adventure sports like mountain biking, anyone can enjoy biking for exercise outside. The difficulty of the terrain can vary greatly; rocky terrain and steep inclines can dramatically increase the difficulty and intensity, whereas flatter, wider paths are generally easier to manage. The fact that mountain biking avoids using city roads and vying for space with inattentive drivers is one of the sport's key safety advantages. Remind your customers to look for workshops or guides who can show them where to find nearby trails and teach them how to explore them.

Playground Workout

Typically, neighbourhood parks and playgrounds have everything needed for an excellent workout. Ask your clients to consider using the space at a park or playground rather than just the equipment when they are looking for a spot. They can run sprints or perform agility drills in the area; park elements like low walls or benches also make excellent platforms for step-up or jumping exercises. Here is a brief exercise your clients can perform while strolling around a nearby park: Ten step-ups on a low wall in each direction; ten split squats; six leaps; and fifteen triceps dips on a bench. Once your consumers begin to view the park as their personal fitness centre, they will begin to think of several ways to move around the area.

HIIT Workout

Another excellent location for a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) session is a nearby park or playground. And now for some encouraging HIIT news you can pass along to your clients: Even a short workout of 10 minutes—without a full warm-up or cool-down—can be quite beneficial. Jumping jacks, pushups, running in place, and mountain climbers are all bodyweight exercises that may be performed in a Tabata-style workout. Perform each activity as quickly as you can with good technique for 20 seconds, and then rest for 10 seconds after each exercise. Before going on to the next exercise, perform each one twice.

Stand-up Paddle Boarding

SUP is a fantastic choice at a time when physical distance is crucial for maintaining health. SUP is a fantastic outdoor training activity because of the strength and balance needed to maintain equilibrium on an uneven terrain.

Going outside to exercise is a terrific method to give the body a different physical challenge, but it's also crucial to change the environment or attempt a new exercise. Learning a new activity provides a distinctive way to move the body, and picking up new skills aids in brain development as well. If the gym is closed, your clients shouldn't ever have to skip a workout. They have the know-how to be physically active wherever they go by taking the time to choose a site and create a strategy for exercising outside.