One of the best resolutions retirees can make in the new year — for themselves as well as for their families — is to adopt a fitness routine that will keep them active, healthy and relatively independent for the foreseeable future.
Physical activity is essential to healthy aging, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as it can delay or prevent many of the health problems that accompany aging. What’s more, regular physical activity helps strengthen muscles so that older people can enjoy everyday routines without depending on others for help.
For adults 65 and older, the CDC recommends moderate intensity activities, such as walking at a brisk pace for 30 minutes a day, five days a week, for a total of 150 minutes a week. Less time — 75 minutes a week — is required for vigorous-intensity activities, such as hiking, jogging or running. And that’s just to maintain normal health. To keep growing muscle tissue, the recommendation is to do two days a week of resistance training.
Fortunately for residents of Ovation Heartwood Preserve, the community prioritizes physical fitness.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re 50 or 90 — exercise improves strength and endurance and increases stability and balance,” says Beth Ehlers, an exercise physiologist and the wellness director at the Omaha upscale retirement community. “Your posture can generally improve and you’ll be better able to stay strong and maintain, or possibly improve, the ability to do the things you want to do in everyday life without dependence on others.”
For residents who may need physical or occupational therapy, Ehlers and her colleagues order an evaluation before working with the resident in the fitness center of the community’s assisted living building. There, she leads daily exercise and fitness classes — everything from ball drumming and ballroom chair dancing to yoga, tai chi and strength and balance training. She also guides residents on walks on Ovation’s 8 miles of walking and biking trails.
But the benefits of a well-planned fitness program extend well beyond physical conditioning. As Ehlers notes, “We’re trying to hit all of those aspects — mental, intellectual and emotional — that constitute fitness and wellness.”
In the ball drumming class, for example, residents use drumsticks to beat on large, inflated rubber balls in time to songs from the ’50s and ’60s. The music, which Ehlers incorporates into many of the classes, reconnects them with their youth and with one another.
“Most residents move here and don’t know anyone,” she says, “and the classes allow them to get to know each other. That’s a key part of social wellness!”
In addition to stability and Pilates balls, the Ovation fitness center is equipped with dumbbells, exercise bands, cardiovascular equipment, a treadmill and a recumbent stepper. The center is open to all residents 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
For more information, or to schedule a tour, please call 402.999.7900 or visit the website at ovationbyavamere.com.
