Jacqueline Hooton is a fitness coach and personal trainer who helps older women get strong, fit and healthy and enjoy optimal ageing. We asked Jacqueline to recommend strength and balance exercises to help maintain independence in later life.
Source: @hergardengym
Walking on the spot
Walking is a great way to support your cardiovascular health. Walking on the spot is a good activity to warm up the body before exercise as well.
To walk on the spot (hold onto the back of a chair for support if needed)
- Stand tall, with feet hip-width apart.
- Walk on the spot, start slowly to begin with
- Increase the pace a little after the first minute, use toe heel action.
Seated knee extension
Maintaining muscular strength in the legs is important for activities of daily living.
To strengthen the front of the thigh and the knee (use ankle weights for added resistance)
- Sit up tall on a solid chair.
- Slowly extend one leg until it’s parallel to the floor, slowly return to the start position. Repeat for 8 – 12 repetitions.
- Repeat on other leg.
Source: @hergardengym
Standing leg curl
Maintaining muscular strength in the legs is important for activities of daily living.
To strengthen the back of the thigh (use ankle weights for added resistance)
- Stand and face the back of a chair. Hold on for support.
- Bending at the knee bring the heel slowly towards the buttocks, slowly return to the start position. Repeat for 8 – 12 repetitions.
- Repeat on other leg.
Source: @hergardengym
Sit to stand
Maintaining strength, balance, and core control is important for activities of daily living.
- Sit tall on a solid chair.
- Rise to a standing position by leaning forward slightly.
- Slowly and with control sit back down again.
- Repeat sit-stand-sit for 8 – 12 repetitions.
Standing single leg balance
Practise balancing on one leg in a safe way.
- Stand and face the back of a chair.
- Hold onto chair and lift one foot off of the ground, count to 10 slowly before placing the foot back down again.
- Swap legs and repeat on the other side.
- If you are able to or as you get stronger try the same exercise again. This time keep the finger tips only in contact with the chair.
- As you improve you may be able to balance on one leg without holding onto the chair for support but stand close to the chair with your hands hovering over the back of the chair so you can steady yourself if needed.
"Please don’t worry, I’m okay now but I had a fall earlier today"
Fitness coach Jacqueline Hooton describes her experiences of supporting her parents' independence and how the Taking Care Anywhere elderly GPS tracker alarm helped.
