Wondering what bodyweight exercises really bring the best of benefits to your body, especially as you increase in age? You may be interested in what a Harvard medical doctor has to say. Author Erin Brodwin interviewed Dr. I-Min Lee of the Harvard Medical School to list down the best bodyweight workouts for serious health enthusiasts like you.
Swimming
If you’re not so fond of running but love how it works your whole body, go for swimming instead. Brodwin emphasizes that
“…swimming can raise your heart rate to improve heart health and protect the brain from age-related decline. Plus, being afloat makes this type of exercise nearly strain-free.”
Talk about having fun while improving cardiovascular health! Plus, you’re training yourself to have some underwater survival skills that can prove helpful in times of trouble.
Tai Chi
Doing bodyweight exercises is not just about building muscles. One of its best benefits is improving your balance, which can easily be achieved when you do Tai Chi. Brodwin quotes Lee as saying
“ is particularly good for older people because balance is an important component of fitness, and balance is something we lose as we get older.”
Want a complete body weight work? Then pair up some Tai Chi with your swimming sessions.
Other Bodyweight Exercises
The author Brodwin also discusses more common body weight exercises. As for adults, he suggests doing Kegel exercises. These strengthen your “pelvic floor” – a group of muscles which tend to weaken as you age.
Harvard experts also recommend walking and strength training in general. As Brodwin dug deeper into the subject, he discovered from one study that in adults ages 60-88,
- walking for 30 minutes,
- doing so four days a week, and
- maintaining the routine for 12 weeks,
apparently strengthened the connectivity in a brain region in which weakened connections are usually linked with memory loss. In other words, walking still works!
It turns out that even the simplest of bodyweight exercises – if only done consistently – can bring about the most significant results.
View original article at www.businessinsider.com.
