Selection of an appropriate exercise for the elderly individual actually having to be adapted to the physical condition of each individual and the previous practice habits.
Form of aerobic exercise is the safest form for the elderly in general. Aerobic exercise includes light running or brisk walking, swimming, gymnastics such as tai-chi, and yoga. With a frequency of 3-4 times a week for 30 minutes each time will provide excellent benefits for the health of the elderly.
For patients with DM (Diabetes Mellitus), aerobic exercise is the main form of exercise that is very useful for controlling blood sugar. Suggested Exercise is a light run for at least 30 minutes 4 times a week with a target heart rate of 60% maximum rate. Weight training is an additional exercises that can improve the effectiveness of blood sugar control. But keep in mind that people with diabetes are often accompanied by other complications such as heart disease, high blood thus better weight training supervised by a personal trainer who understands the medical condition.
Elderly with coronary heart disease and heart failure, it is not recommended for weight training and exercises that use sudden movements such as tennis, badminton, or high-impact aerobics. This is due to a sudden change in motion exercises will stimulate the heart to adapt to the rapidly increasing rate. In the elderly with coronary disorders or heart failure, this can lead to sudden cardiac arrest and death. Exercise for heart patients is a sport that is continuous and progressively improved as swimming, jogging for 10 minutes and as much as 2-4 times a week, which was increased to 30 minutes per session.
Patients with osteoporosis would benefit very well with moderate weight training. The use of the training load will maintain muscle strength and increase bone mass density as a compensatory mechanism to the load. But keep in mind the degree of bone loss that has occurred previously due to incorrect weight training can be at risk of fractures in patients who have severe bone loss. There should also be satisfied the needs of calcium and vitamin D for the elderly.
Stroke patients will also get many benefits with weight training. Stroke in general will result in paralysis of one side of the body's muscles. When the muscles that have been paralyzed is not trained, there will be downsizing and the longer it will become permanent. Paralyzed side of the body should be trained initially passive (driven by someone else) but gently should continue to be trained actively. In some people with mild to moderate stroke, paralysis that occurs will not appear again with intensive training for several months.
What about people with high blood pressure? For this one, I have to say that aerobic exercise is still the best compared to weight training. Hypertensive patients with blood pressure above 150/90 mmHg also have the risk of weight-bearing exercise such as rupture of blood vessels in the eye, or in the brain that lead to stroke.
Form of exercise appropriate medical condition above is a general form that you can do, to keep in mind also that some diseases often occur in the same person that need further adjustment. But whatever, physical exercise will always give better results than no exercise at all.
