Indoor Walking Exercises for Seniors in Fort Smith Independent Living
In summary:
- Starting a regimen of indoor walking exercises in a community space can help to support your heart health
- You should aim for around 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week
- You can break this exercise up, but Morada Fort Smith's indoor area is the perfect venue for such activity
Morada Fort Smith offers a beautiful indoor space with walkable corridors and community rooms that are perfect for traversing. If you have considered adding indoor walking exercises to your daily routine, they may help improve your overall health, including stamina, balance, and confidence.
The following article will help you understand some of the details of incorporating indoor walks into other forms of daily activity for seniors. Discover where to start, what they can do to benefit you, and how to get support in your efforts should you need it.
Do Indoor Walking Exercises Work?
Walking in general can improve your aerobic fitnessover time. It does not matter whether you do it outdoors or indoors, so long as your efforts are consistent.
You need to ensure your body pushes itself through an increase in heart rate and heavier breathing. That could happen outdoors or indoors, but the main difference is that when winter sets in, safe movement indoors becomes a lot more appealing. The health benefits of such activities speak for themselves.
In fact, Morada Fort Smith's indoor areas are ideal for helping those who want to try new exercises without weathering the wind and rain. The communal spaces are spacious and open, allowing for easy movement, and the regular meals provided by trained kitchen staff ensure that you receive the necessary nutrition to support your body's improvement.
Are Two 15-Minute Walks as Good as One 30-Minute Walk?
When the effort between the two walking routines matches, accumulating time instead of doing it all at once can still support the same health benefits. In fact, the CDC recommends 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week in many cases. However, while it suggests 30-minute segments, they are not especially strict about what form that takes.
In addition, you may find that there are other activities that Morada Fort Smith organizes that you want to take part in and that offer similar benefits. Whether that involves dancing, gardening, or going on outdoor excursions, as long as you boost your heart rate, it will all contribute to your health.
How Long Should an Indoor Walk Be?
As mentioned above, a common target is around 150 minutes per week at a moderate pace, and aiming for 30 minutes per session is a good idea. However, doing that all at once can be a lot.
When you first start, aim for only ten or fifteen minutes. If you can't even do that, then do as much as you can. You can then return to it later to fill up the rest of the time. The goal is not to "win", but to give your body a chance to start working a little harder.
If you then increase the intensity of the exercise over time based on what you can handle in subsequent exercises, you can slowly build up your stamina.
Don't increase them all at once if you cannot handle it, however. You can make one day's efforts last longer without altering the rest, giving you a chance to recover the next day with an easier set.
Also, ensure that you hydrate before and after these walks, and get the necessary nutrients to keep your body healthy. Through all these efforts and by reducing the time you spend sitting, you stand the best chance of this exercise giving you the results you need.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is Walking Inside the Same as Walking Outside
Boosting your Fort Smith, AR, senior fitness through indoor walking offers benefits that you cannot get by simply stretching your legs outside. For example, you can avoid issues if you cannot stand the:
- Heat
- Pollen
- Uneven ground
- Sound of traffic
- General public
However, when it comes to the exercises themselves, indoor circuits offer an easier start. You can get going without worrying about hard floors, and be surrounded by staff and residents you know and trust when trying out new exercises.
If you want more variety, you can even add alternate circuits and short outdoor excursions around the garden, especially in the summer months.
How Far Should a 70-Year-Old Walk Each Day
There is no single distance that any age group needs to aim for. Instead, the comfort of the exerciser and the effort put in are much more critical. If you feel as though you have exerted yourself and are improving over time, you are doing plenty.
At the same time, higher step counts are generally a sign that you are becoming more accustomed to exercising. While we would not say that it should be your only tool for measuring your progress, there is nothing wrong with appreciating the extra movement that you can achieve by becoming fitter.
What is the Best Low-Impact Exercise for Seniors
While walking is an acceptable method of engaging in low-impact exercise, if you're looking for more options, several low-impact workouts for aging adults are available at Morada Fort Smith.
We even offer a senior-focused wellness program. Our staff are on hand to help you expand your physical activities with stretching and cardio. They can also assist with balance exercises to ensure that you can safely take part in other efforts in the future.
We also offer yoga activities that are perfect for many who prefer not to move around too much for their physical activity.
Put Your Plan to Work in Fort Smith
You can start with a short, five-minute hallway loop, and you may find that you can quickly build up your efforts to make indoor walking exercises a regular part of your day.
If you have questions about which spaces are best suited for your needs and any other support we can offer, please don't hesitate to speak with our staff. We are more than happy to help our residents. However, if you are not a resident yet, you may want to look at what else we offer.
To discover our range of on-site amenities, including a senior-specific fitness center, book a tour today and learn how we make retirement a breeze.