Multimedia

Text-only Transcript

Video:
Be Fit
Building Strength

Narrator:
Let’s join Stephanie, from the YMCA, to learn more about why building strength is important at any age.

Stephanie Uren
(YMCA Specialist/Individual Conditioning):
Everyone should build muscles, starting at a very young age, and continuing on into your senior years.

Video:
Talk to your doctor before starting any new physical activity program.

Stephanie Uren:
Before beginning any exercise program, you want to consult your physician to make sure that there’s no health concerns. Any sort of blood pressure, osteopenia, osteoporosis or any heart condition would be of concern. The first step, if you want to build muscles, is having a strong core foundation.

So... the core consists of your abdominals as well as your back.

It allows us to bend forward as well as side-to-side.

You build your strong core muscle by beginning with basic body-weight exercises, or doing planks, and then working up into doing abdominal exercises,... maybe using a stability ball, which allows you to utilize or stabilize your muscles.

Making sure that those knees are always behind the toes.

I have a client who is 83 years old and has some issues with...(hum...) hearing, and we work a lot on core conditioning as well as balance and coordination.

Jack Lewis (YMCA Member/Active Senior):
As old age comes on, your balance becomes defected, and she has taught me exercises to do, to insure that the balance is maintained.

Video:
Exercise at home:
Lift weights
Walk
Stability ball exercises
Gardening
House cleaning
Active play

Jack Lewis:
I do weights at home - there are various exercises that you can do there, with them, to keep things going. Or else I do treadmill at home. I do the exercise ball as well, the one that she has. I have an exercise ball as well, and that allows me to do all kinds of exercises.

Stephanie Uren:
The importance of building a lean muscle mass is that your daily overall activities are that much easier and you’re able to hold yourself in a different way with posture. I also have a middle aged female client who has osteopenia, and since a year of weight bearing exercises, she’s improved her strength overall by 70%, which is excellent.