At-home exercise resources for National Senior Health and Fitness Day

Since COVID-19 has closed gyms across the country, many people are struggling to keep up with their fitness routine or have given up altogether. But just because your patients are stuck inside their homes doesn’t mean they can’t have good workouts. Tomorrow is National Senior Health and Fitness Day, but fitness is important for all age groups throughout the year. It’s well-known that exercise can improve mood and reduce the risk of depression, benefits that everyone could use during the current crisis. Here are some home workout resources for you to share with your patients and perhaps use yourself.

At-home workout guides for quarantine

The World Health Organization has created a webpage full of information on staying active and living healthy during the COVID-19 crisis. The information provided includes general tips on reducing sedentary activity, nutritional advice, and a list of exercises that can be done at home. Each exercise is illustrated with a photograph of a person performing the exercise and described in detail. WHO suggests how many reps of the exercise one should do and explains what muscles it strengthens. Check out the webpage here.

Verywell Fit has an article full of home workout resources for those who want to stay active during COVID-19. In addition to describing and explaining exercises one can do, they offer full sample workouts and link to dozens of video workouts one can watch and follow along with. They also draw attention to some workout apps, explaining what kinds of workouts they offer. The amount of variety in this article means that one is almost certain to find a workout that matches their fitness level and lifestyle. Read the article here.

Despite these resources, your patients may be reluctant to start working out at home. They may feel too busy, or too drained, or like it’s not important in the face of the current crisis. If that’s the case, you can show them the SELF article “How to Exercise at Home and Actually Like It.” The author emphasizes with not wanting to work out, and explains how to get started and make it easy and enjoyable. Find the article here.

As previously mentioned, tomorrow is National Senior Health and Fitness Day. While older adults may not be able to do all the exercises a younger adult can do, they can and should still do some physical activity every day to improve their health. The United Kingdom National Health Service (NHS) has created a set of physical activity guidelines for older adults, explaining what kinds of exercises they can do and how often they should do them. In addition to suggesting light, moderate, and vigorous activities for older adults to do, the NHS offers muscle-strengthening exercises to help those who worry about falling or hurting themselves while performing physical activities. If you have older patients, show them the NHS’s guide.