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Regardless of your age, maintaining an active, healthy lifestyle is essential. This involves focusing on basic principles like having a nutritious diet rich in lean protein and vegetables, engaging in regular strength training, and taking part in cardio exercises. If you are already integrating these elements into your daily routine, you are on the right path. However, it is crucial to identify and eliminate any detrimental exercise habits, particularly if you are over 60.
Although certain activities may have been manageable in your 30s and 40s, they may not be safe as you age. These harmful exercise habits can be rectified, as we will explore below. Prioritize listening to your body and avoiding overexertion or exceeding your physical capabilities. When uncertain, seek advice from your healthcare provider to establish a suitable fitness program. It may also be beneficial to collaborate with a personal trainer who can assist you in developing a customized workout regimen.
Without further ado, here are four bad exercise habits you should ditch if you’re 60 or older.
In This Article
Performing Exercises That Give You Any Sort of Pain or Discomfort
Listening to your body is indisputably crucial and should never be overlooked, regardless of your age. Understanding your body’s limitations and capabilities is vital during exercise routines.
As you continue to grow older, joint health becomes increasingly important. As mentioned earlier, there are exercises you can do when you’re younger that are likely unsafe to perform as you get older. It might be due to mobility issues or because these exercises place more stress on your joints. Some common exercise examples include upright rows, skull crushers, or behind-the-neck presses and pulldowns.
If an exercise causes you pain or discomfort, stop it immediately and replace it with a similar, joint-friendly substitute.
Prioritizing Cardio Over Strength Training
Although cardio is extremely important for heart health, burning calories, and improving endurance, many people go overboard with it and completely ignore strength training. The problem with this is that as you age, you lose muscle mass and bone density at a faster rate—especially if you don’t do anything to maintain them. If you’re not strength training regularly, start incorporating it into your routine to build and maintain lean muscle.
Ignoring Flexibility and Mobility Work
Besides trying to maintain your lean muscle and performing joint-friendly exercises, a bad exercise habit to quit now is ignoring mobility and flexibility. In addition to losing lean mass when you get older, you also lose range of motion and flexibility—especially if you don’t do anything to maintain them. It’s important to incorporate stretches, mobility drills, or even yoga classes to improve your flexibility and range of motion in your movement patterns.
Using Exercise To Burn Off “Cheat Meals” and “Cheat Days”
This is more of a psychological habit than a physical one, affecting people of all ages. You may like to add “cheat meals” and “cheat days” to your weekend eating and end up over-exercising because you feel guilty about how overindulgent you were. Unfortunately, this can lead to an endless cycle, and you likely won’t make solid progress with your fat-loss goals.
Instead, use exercise to improve your fitness instead of a method to burn off “cheat days.”
Tim Liu, C.S.C.S., CSCS
