More elaborate and expensive home equipment for working body muscles is also available, costing from $100 to more than $1,000. No one should purchase or use strength-training equipment without instruction from a professional.

Flexibility Training (Stretching)

Benefits of Flexibility Training. Flexibility training uses stretching exercises. Many stretching exercises are particularly beneficial for the back. In general, flexibility training provides the following benefits:

• Prevents cramps, stiffness, and injuries
• Improves joint and muscle movement (improved range of motion)

Certain flexibility practices, such as yoga and tai chi, also involve meditation and breathing techniques that reduce stress. Such practices appear to have many health and mental benefits. They may be very suitable and highly beneficial for older people, and for patients with certain chronic diseases.

Click the icon to see an image of flexibility exercise.

Flexibility Training Regiments. Doctors recommend performing stretching exercises for 10 - 12 minutes at least three times a week. The following are some general guidelines:

• When stretching, exhale and extend the muscles to the point of tension, not pain, and hold for 20 - 60 seconds. (Beginners may need to start with a 5- to 10-second stretch.)
• Breathe evenly and constantly while holding the stretch.
• Inhale when returning to a relaxed position. Holding your breath defeats the purpose; it causes muscle contraction and raises blood pressure.
• When doing stretches that involve the back, relax the spine to keep the lower back flush with the mat, and to work only the muscles required for changing position (often these are only the abdominal muscles).

Specific Exercise Tips for Older People

Studies continue to show that it is never too late to start exercising. Elderly adults who exercise twice a week can significantly increased their body strength, flexibility, balance, and agility. Studies show that even small improvements in physical fitness and activity can prolong life and independent living. A recent study based on a 35-year follow-up showed that in men who increased their physical activity at age 50, the reduction in mortality rate was similar to that of smoking cessation. In fact, after 10 years of increased physical activity, these men had the same mortality rate for their age group as men who were highly physically active throughout entire adult their lives.

Still, according to the 2010 Healthy People report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 46% of people aged 65 - 74 did not engage in any leisure time physical activity in 2008, the last year for which figures were available. In people over age 75, the percentage of those not engaged in any leisure time physical activity was 56%.

The following tips for exercising may be helpful:

• Any older person should have a complete physical and medical examination, as well as professional instruction, before starting an exercise program.
• Start low and go slow. For sedentary, older people, one or more of the following programs may be helpful and safe: Low-impact aerobics, gait (step) training, balance exercises, tai chi, self-paced walking, and lower legs resistance training, using elastic tubing or ankle weights. Even in the nursing home, programs aimed at improving strength, balance, gait, and flexibility have significant benefits.
• Strength training assumes even more importance as one ages, because after age 30 everyone undergoes a slow process of muscular weakening (atrophy). This process can be reduced or even reversed by adding resistance training to an exercise program. As little as 1 day a week of resistance training improves overall strength and agility. Strength training also improves heart and blood vessel health.
• Flexibility exercises promote healthy muscle growth and help reduce the stiffness and loss of balance that accompanies aging.
• Chair exercises may be performed by people who are unable to walk.
• Older women are at risk for incontinence accidents during exercise. This can be reduced or prevented by performing Kegel exercises, limiting fluids (without risking dehydration), going to the bathroom frequently, and using leakage prevention pads or insertable devices.

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Review Date: 05/08/2011
Reviewed By: Harvey Simon, MD, Editor-in-Chief, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)