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Text-only Transcript

Video:
Be Fit
Senior Fitness

Narrator:
There is no age limit to exercising; you can start in your senior years, even if you’ve never been active before. Let’s join Brigitte from the YMCA, to learn more about how being active at any age will help maintain your energy and reduce the risk of injury.

Brigitte Grenier(YMCA Group Fitness Instructor):
Just being active at any age, even if you’ve never been active ever in your life, just starting right now can help improve your lifestyle. It’s a lifestyle choice and you just feel better about yourself in every aspect of your life. The exercise helps fight cardiovascular diseases so the chance of having a heart attack.

Video:
Being active can:
Reduce hypertension
Reduce high blood pressure
Reduce the risk of diabetes
Help to maintain healthy weight

Brigitte Grenier:
And even if you’ve had a heart attack previously, it will diminish the chances of you having it again... And also with hypertension and cholesterol levels, if you have high blood pressure, or even diabetes… And also exercising is a great way of weight control. It also helps prevent falls so, if you’re doing your exercises, you’re working on you balance, your endurance, your strength. It helps with your bone mass so also that helps with the prevention of falls which we see a lot of times in older adults.

Video:
Being active can improve:
Balance
Endurance
Strength
Bone mass

Carole Collins(YMCA Member):
It’s never too late, ever. When I look around and I see some of the members in this class and the age range we have here… And everybody gets out and they all do whatever they can to stay fit. And I think that the important message is,... that it’s never too late. And I can see that if I’m not going to be healthy now, I’m going to pay for that later on. I’ve also had some osteo-arthritis in my hips and exercise is one of the best things to help with that. So for me, it’s really important on a personal level to just get out there and just keep going and stay active.

Brigitte Grenier:
If seniors are interested in exercising, you should always start everything slow and in moderation so even if it’s incorporating a little bit more walking in your daily routine, or taking the stairs instead of the elevator… That’s a great way of starting! And also, proper, balanced diet and stretching… Just starting to stretch on a regular basis is a great way of starting.

Video:
Getting started:
Always talk to your doctor first
Start slowly
Stretch
Exercise in moderation
Eat a balanced diet

Brigitte Grenier:
So there’s a lot of things that you can do to stay active at home if you can’t get to a gym, like incorporating some stretching in the morning when you’re,... first thing after waking up... Also you can use water bottles as resistance to do a little bit of weight training, using the stairs, you know... Going up a few times extra than you normally would and taking walks around the neighbourhood or gardening, things like that… Just as long as you stay active!

Video:
Active at home:
Stretching
Use the stairs
Walk
Garden

Carole Collins:
I have other friends that are involved in tai chi, especially if they’re having some issues with arthritis or joint pains. Tai chi is a very easy exercise for the joints. There’s yoga, there’s pilates… They are very popular and I know some people that are involved in that quite a bit… So there’s lots of, lots of choices for people of all ages.

My advice to people that are thinking about getting up and getting started: first of all, do it. You really won’t believe the benefits of the exercise. But also, try not to be intimidated by the exercise. You can do anything at your level. You really have that choice. You just do as much as you can. So, I mean, just get out and try your best! That’s all you can do it.