Jones - Upper Body Workouts for Seniors

Do you constantly complain of severe back pain such that moving becomes a challenge, and despite changing your sitting position and getting 'comfortable' on seats and couches, the pain never seems to go away for good?

Or would you love to build your upper body strength as you age to ensure that your muscles do not waste away, but you are hesitant because you do not know how to go about it?

If you have answered YES, keep reading

As a senior, you might believe that your bad posture and the pains you feel in your upper body are normal mainly because such are considered "part of old age." However, this notion is wrong.

discovered that progressive strength training, which is one of the main aims of upper body workouts, is extremely efficient for seniors as it reduces sarcopenia (this is the involuntary loss of skeletal muscle and strength) and helps retain motor function. Despite this knowledge, you may still feel skeptical about upper body workouts. You may probably be wondering;

I have problems with my back; how long should I exercise without feeling pain or uncomfortable?

How many sets should I do?

If I feel sore after the workout session, is it okay? And what can I do to relieve the pain?

Such are valid concerns, and this book will address all of them and teach you why upper body workouts are crucial and how to do them well.

Specifically, this book will cover:

• An overview of upper body workouts for seniors: Why such workouts are essential and the myths that bar seniors from adopting them in their daily life
• Effective warm-up exercises for seniors
• Types of upper body workouts
• Ways to ease post-workout muscles
• A suitable diet to complement your workouts
• And much more!

You may feel and believe that back pains will be with you for the rest of your life now that you are older; however, with the right workouts, this can change.

Your search for the best non-medicinal way to optimize your health is over because this book is what you have been looking for!

Without much further ado, let us begin.

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Table of Contents

It is essential to note that lean body mass begins to decline between the age of thirty and forty. This decrease signals that the body is producing less muscle cells so by the time you get to 50 years old, you may have had ten percent less muscle mass than you did when you were thirty years old.

Muscles are tasked with lifting, and because muscle mass is lost as we age, doing things such as carrying all the groceries in one trip becomes a challenge. In addition, losing muscle mass is considered one of the reasons seniors are affected by falls. When you lose muscle mass, your body's balance also decreases, and mobility becomes a challenge making tripping and falling more common.

When muscles and bone mass change, your body shape will also change. As you lose these two important pillars of the body, body fat will increase, which also changes your body composition because the fat usually accumulates in the abdomen. Once your abdominal area is covered with fat, you will be at a higher risk of getting illnesses such as diabetes and heart complications.

With all this in mind, upper body workouts are what you require to stay as healthy as you possibly can.

The upper body workouts you will learn from this book will enable you to enjoy a couple of benefits, such as the ones below:

Your musculoskeletal system is consists of bones, joints, and muscles. Your backbone, on the other hand, is made up of intervertebral discs (these are the joint-like spaces in your backbone), vertebras (these are the bones), and muscles. These three are severely affected by age, so for most seniors, the back sometimes bends forward, resulting in a stooped posture.

Effects of bad posture on the body

With this said, there are many effects of bad posture, but we will look at three common ones:

• Spine curvature

A perfectly aligned spine should have an "S" shape, but as we age, this changes, which puts excessive pressure on specific areas of the spine. This means that the original ability of your spine to absorb shock decreases, which puts the body at risk of getting severely injured over time.

• Headaches, Back and Neck Pains

Bad posture strains the upper and lower neck. In addition, slouching forward adds more pressure between the shoulder blades and causes the back muscles to flatten. All these cause pains especially below the neck and around the tailbone.

Also, poor posture stresses out your posterior muscles (the muscles that form the triceps the plantaris, soleus, and gastrocnemius), which negatively affects the neck. So when the shoulders become hunched in a forward position or your head is aimed forward, that strain on the neck will lead to tension headaches.

• Bad digestion

If you have bad posture, you may have frequent heartburns, and digestion will tend to be slow. You will know your digestion is low if you have stomach disruptions such as bloating, gas, constipation, heartburn, and diarrhea. This happens because stomach acid is forced in the wrong direction.

So, how will upper body workouts help your posture?

Upper body workouts will strengthen bones and muscles such as the back of the neck (trapezius and rhomboids), back of the shoulder (rear deltoid), middle and upper back (latissimus dorsi), and back of the upper arm (triceps). The following is just a snippet of the workouts (we will discuss how to do them step by step later in subsequent chapters) that will help correct your posture:

• Wall tilts
• Arm ups
• Chin tucks
• Walking
• Shoulder squeeze exercise
• Chest stretches
• Standing rows with resistance band
• Wall posture training

Effective metabolism will always provide your body with energy, making body functions such as digestion and breathing more efficient. Kate Lyden, Ph.D. from Colorado State University, noted that metabolic processes decrease as we age, which may lead to spikes in glucose levels, especially after meals. In addition, processes such as muscle building also become less efficient, so seniors who do not exercise rarely gain any muscle mass.

Usually, adopting healthy sleep patterns and metabolic-friendly diets such as intermittent fasting improve metabolism. However, complementing these with upper body workouts, specifically muscle-strengthening exercises, will optimize your health by reducing signs of common metabolic illnesses.

The following are some of the muscle-strengthening workouts that we will discuss in-depth in subsequent chapters:

• Lying hip bridges workouts
• Squats to chair workouts
• Wall pushup workouts
• Side-lying circle workouts
• Quadruped opposite arm and leg balance workouts
• Deadbug workouts
• Side plank workouts
• Wall angel workouts
• Wall slide workouts
• Pec stretches workouts
• Standing balance workouts
• Chin-up workouts