Senior fitness class

Senior fitness classes are by no means the "IQ tax" that has been discussed on the Internet for several years. They are essentially group exercise intervention programs customized for the physiological characteristics of the elderly. Reliable regular classes are more effective in reducing the risk of sarcopenia, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and supplementing daily social needs than the elderly doing casual exercise on their own. The only prerequisite is that you must avoid those "pseudo fitness classes" that are trying to sell people off.

I have been a sports instructor for the elderly in a neighborhood elderly care service center for 6 years. I have taught more than 1,800 students at least. The youngest is 52 years old and has just retired. The oldest is 87 years old and dare not move after falling once before. I have seen all kinds of situations.

Aunt Wang, who came last spring, is a typical example. She had been dancing in the square for three years. She had to walk fast every day in order to get the C position. She injured her meniscus twice. She had to hold on to the railing when going up and down the stairs. When she went to the hospital, the doctor said she would need surgery if she danced again. After lying at home for three months, she lost more than 10 kilograms of muscle. She couldn't breathe even when she went downstairs to buy groceries. Later, her daughter forced her to sign up for our class. After we gave her a basic assessment, all standing squats and jumping movements were replaced by seated leg strength training. She rested after 20 minutes each time and used Ba Duan Jin to regulate her breathing. After half a year, the frequency of knee pain dropped from three or four times a week to no pain for two months. Last week, she went to climb Huagai Mountain in the suburbs with a group of old sisters. It is more than 300 meters above sea level. She didn’t feel tired during the entire journey. Photos taken in the circle of friends made her eyes narrow with laughter.

When I went to industry exchange meetings before, I encountered several scenes where experts argued fiercely. An old professor from the Institute of Physical Medicine insisted that people over 70 years old should never bear weights. He said that the bones of the elderly are fragile and no one can bear the responsibility if they fail to move properly and fall. We who are doing practical work on the front line feel that this is wrong - now the elderly The incidence rate of sarcopenia is too high. The rate of muscle loss in people over 60 years old is three times that of young people. Just practicing low-intensity aerobic exercise such as Baduanjin Tai Chi cannot stop the muscles from falling. If you lift a 0.3kg small dumbbell, as long as the movements are standard, how can you be easily injured? The 82-year-old Uncle Li in our class had a cerebral infarction before and half of his body was weak and he could hardly walk. We gave him lateral raises with 0.25kg dumbbells. After practicing for a year, he can now carry ten kilograms of vegetables up to the third floor without gasping for breath. During the last physical examination, his bone density increased by 0.12. The doctor asked him what supplements he had taken, but he said he had not taken any supplements, so he came to class three times a week.

Not all classes are reliable. Last year, a commercial fitness studio for the elderly opened next to our street. In order to boost sales, the classes for the elderly were all fast-paced fat-loss exercises. They danced for two hours. They also tricked the elderly into buying private lessons worth 3,980 yuan and asking them to do weight-bearing squats. Within two months, a 62-year-old Aunt Zhang was hospitalized with fluid in her knees. The neighborhood committee came to coordinate. In the end, the studio refunded the money and compensated for medical expenses, and it closed soon after. There are also those who have the reputation of being a fitness class and start selling magnetic therapy belts and health necklaces worth more than 2,000 yuan after two classes. They say that wearing them can lower blood pressure and blood sugar. If you turn around and leave, you are absolutely right.

I usually recommend classes to relatives and friends around me. The first thing to look at is the class schedule. If there are three or four days a week of bouncing high-intensity training, just pass. Old people have slow metabolisms and recovery is slow. Training one day and two days off is the most comfortable rhythm. Then check whether the coach has a certificate as a senior sports instructor. , Ordinary fitness instructor certificates are useless. You need to know the knowledge of movement adaptation for chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. When you join the class, if they don’t even measure your blood pressure, and they don’t ask whether you have lumbar protrusion or old knee injuries, and everyone practices the same movements, it is most likely to fool people, so don’t go.

It’s interesting to say that every time our class is over, no one is in a hurry to leave. The aunts bring home-made pickled radish and peach cakes to share. They chatter about how many scores the grandchildren got in the test. Uncle Li’s orange cat broke the flower pot again. Aunt Zhang recently learned a new slow-step dance to teach everyone. Many old people had nothing to do at home before. They stared at the ceiling in a daze all day long and were prone to getting sick from boredom. Come here to move and chatter. When your mood is good, your body will naturally be better.

Having been in this business for so long, I don’t have any too mysterious reasons. To put it bluntly, fitness classes for the elderly are not a panacea. They just find a group of people who are about the same age as you, follow people who understand your physical condition, and move and talk. It is much better than moving around at home or lying still. If you come across someone who starts telling you about health care and asking you to buy this or that, just turn around and find the right class, which is much more useful than eating a bunch of health products.