Keeping Fit Beyond Middle Age

Life, as it approaches the 55+ mark, leads to giving up on various activities, including working full time.  While retirement is part and parcel to life, it is meant to give you more time for doing things you want to do but never had the free time for.  While you may be letting go of certain routines, you should never give up your fitness routine.  Hitting the 55+ mark means you may not any longer be vigorously training 2 hours a day!  Yet, you still need to exercise so that you stay fit and trim.  You may not have had time to exercise with your busy schedule before.  However, now that you have the time in your retired life, it is suggested that you to carve out some time for exercise so that you can live beyond your middle age keeping fit as a fiddle.

Guess what?  You may find out that exercising is so much more fun that what you expected it to be.  If you are a resident of one of many thousands of active adult communities across the USA, you will be having all the amenities you need, right in your own back yard, so to say!  From walking trails to hiking paths, and from cycling tracks to indoor fitness, not to mention yoga and aerobics classes, there will be plenty of activities to choose from.  Some communities come even with heated pools while an outdoor community pool is typically a fixture in any of these senior communities.  Swimming, jogging, yoga, cycling, walking etc will all provide you with ample exercise and good fun too, as you get to engage in these activities with good friends in the neighborhood.

As you know there are many benefits to exercise irrespective of whether you are young or old.  Exercise increases your metabolism, prevents the onset of various diseases, increases muscle strength, helps build and maintain healthy bones, and helps you manage stress.  However, you need to plan your exercise and know a few important things, in order to avoid any injuries.  Before you begin your exercise regimen, remember you are no longer in your 20’s or 30’s.  Therefore, choose an exercise that fits you well.  Here are some of the main categories of exercises that you need to consider building into your workout plan:

• Cardio Activities –These include walking, biking, jogging, swimming, etc.  This type of activity helps improve circulation and the health of your heart.
• Strengthening Exercises – This type of exercise is aimed at building muscle tissue and reducing muscle loss that comes with age.
• Stretching Exercises – Stretching is extremely necessary before and after any physical activity.  Therefore, you need to spend time stretching.  Stretching also increases flexibility.
• Balance Exercises – These exercises are great at any age.  They help you to improve your balance, which can be extremely useful in preventing a fall.

There are other benefits apart from the health benefits of exercise.  For example, if you have just moved to a senior retirement community, exercise is a great way to meet your neighbors and make new friends.  Just think, before you know it, you will be a part of a group that takes part in Tai Chi or jogging or biking in the mornings.  Exercising with friends from your community also enables you to communicate with others who are similar in age and have similar interests.  You will be surprised at how much you look forward to your exercise routine every day when you live in one of these communities.

Keeping yourself fit after middle age does not have to be a chore.  It can be rather enjoyable, especially if you are a resident of an action-packed senior living community where there will be activities tailor-made for your age.  Below are just a few we chose randomly from our database of over 8,500 communities.  Visit ActiveAdultLiving.com and browse through communities in your preferred States:

• Regency at Dominion Valley by Toll Brothers – Haymarket, VA
• Plantation Oaks of Ormond Beach – Ormond Beach, FL
• The Village at Deaton Creek by Del Webb – Hoschton, GA
• Regency at Flanders – Flanders, NJ

There are many more communities that cater to all your senior lifestyle requirements and that will surely keep you fit and healthy past middle age.  Choose a community that matches your dream lifestyle, be it fishing at the waterfront; fun and sun at the beach or country life in the great outdoors.  AcitveAdultLiving.com shares with you a wealth of information on over 5,800 senior living communities across the country, with easy browsing and search facilities.  We invite you to join the ActiveAdultLiving Face book page so that special alerts, news and promotion links from the communities will come to you automatically.  Sign up for the Active Living Newsletter as well and if you are on Twitter, do follow us on Twitter and get our daily Tweets.