The world’s population is aging, and according to the UN, by 2050, the world will have more senior citizens than young people.
Based on these stats, it’s important to keep the senior population healthy to prevent a shortage of caregivers. Fitness training is a great way to keep the older population healthy and happy. However, senior fitness approaches have mostly centered around exercises with little attention to improving the overall lifestyle.
Senior citizens must maintain a healthier lifestyle, even if they don’t work out regularly. This is why we’ve highlighted some senior fitness trends that can help certified personal trainers design effective workout programs. If you want to learn more about senior fitness training, check out our course.
Yoga And Mediation
Yoga is a bit hard initially, but once people get the hang of it, it’s quite beneficial. For a senior citizen, yoga is perfect for reducing chronic pain, improving blood flow, and reducing stress. The stretching poses of yoga also help regulate hypertension and increase oxygen absorption in the body. On the other hand, meditation helps people attain a relaxed state and reach mindfulness. Both yoga and meditation can help senior citizens maintain their physical and mental well-being without doing a lot. As a trainer, you can teach them yoga poses that can be done in different settings and don’t require much effort.
Group Exercise
It’s widely observed that senior citizens like working in groups. This also extends to physical fitness. When working out in a group, their performance is increased, and they don’t feel as burdened. This happens because people can socialize with each other, and the group exercises are designed to make sure everyone can keep up with the workout. The group setting also maintains friendly competition among the members helping them improve their performance without feeling exhausted.
Smart Workouts
Smart gadgets are used everywhere, including fitness. For seniors, these devices are especially helpful because, a lot of times, personal trainers can’t accurately monitor their progress or health. Using such gadgets makes it easier to measure various parameters and change the workouts to make them more effective. Gadgets such as smartwatches and trackers can also monitor the sleep cycle, breathing patterns, and other vital information so trainers can know if the clients are living a healthy lifestyle.
Exercise And Nutrition
Commonly when it comes to workouts, less attention is paid to the nutritional aspect. But with senior citizens, there’s a new trend of health through nutrition. When people age, their body needs more nutrients to stay healthy. So instead of focusing more on exercise and less on nutrition, trainers are using a reverse approach. In this, more focus is on nutrition and less on exercise. This way, trainers can work on keeping the body healthy without relying on demanding workouts. People also prefer this type of fitness because a lot of them run away from exercise because of its difficulty.
Active Lifestyle
Maintaining an active lifestyle is better than maintaining a workout routine for senior citizens. This is because they don’t have to build muscles or reach an ideal weight, so they don’t need to work out for long hours. Just having an active lifestyle allows people to stay on top of their health. Activities like running, climbing the stairs, or going for a jog are good enough to offer a light cardio workout without exhausting people.
Medical Fitness
Old age often comes with chronic illnesses such as diabetes, arthritis, and heart issues. Medial fitness training can help keep these illnesses at bay and allow people to live their lives to the fullest. Medical fitness trainers design exercise programs that minimize the client’s health issues while improving their quality of life. For example, they design stretching exercises for people with arthritis to help increase blood flow and strengthen their muscles. On the other hand, cardio exercises improve the heart rate and increase oxygen absorption in the blood.
At-Home Fitness
For senior citizens, fitness should be a part of their lifestyle instead of being the center of it. These people don’t need to build strong muscles to tone their bodies. Instead, they need fitness to keep their illness at bay and maintain a healthy lifestyle. At-home fitness offers just that. Instead of working out on heavy equipment, seniors can do a light workout at home. The trainers can monitor their progress through smart devices and modify the workouts accordingly.
Holistic Fitness
Due to their living conditions and old age, senior citizens are often depressed or unhappy with their lifestyles. Holistic fitness can change that. Holistic fitness combines physical fitness with mental well-being leading people to live happier and more content lives while allowing them to stay physically fit. Yoga, meditation, and other similar workouts are more popular in holistic fitness because they target physical fitness while also keeping the person mentally healthy.
Game-Based Fitness
Game or sports-based fitness isn’t new, but it’s been gaining a lot of traction in the senior fitness industry. People tend to perform better when they don’t realize they’re working out; this type of fitness capitalized on that. Trainers can introduce people to sports or other physical activities like games to add an element of fun to their workouts. The results are better engagement, increased fitness levels, and higher motivation. However, personal trainers do need to pick sports or games senior citizens can perform without hurting their health.
Get Your Professional Fitness Certification With W.I.T.S Education
For those looking to work in the fitness sector, W.I.T.S. Education is a fitness training facility that offers personal health trainer programs. You can enroll in courses to become a certified personal trainer, a group exercise instructor, a medical fitness instructor, and many more professions. W.I.T.S. Education also offers a course in fitness management if you’re thinking about starting your own gym.
Our courses feature instructive online lectures and practical labs. Our labs have located all around North America. Additionally, the NCCA and the American Council of Education have accredited our institution. We also offer the biggest network of colleges and schools where students can receive course credits. View our courses and enroll today!