Activities of Daily Living
& General Fitness for Older Adults
EXERCISE FOR OLDER ADULTS:
General Fitness / Activities of Daily Living
Not everybody has a defined fitness goal. Many of our personal training clients just want to feel better, move better, and keep or create a healthy lifestyle. That’s perfect! We call this training for life, functional fitness, or training for activities of daily living (ADLs).
What are Activities of Daily Life (ADLs)?
ADLs are simply activities that you do every day. You’ve probably started to notice that some of these tasks are getting harder than they once were.
- Do you struggle to get down to the ground?
- Can you get up off the ground without assistance?
- Do you get winded just walking up the stairs?
- Are you afraid to use the stairs without a death-grip on the railing?
- Do you struggle to carry the groceries in?
- Can you unscrew all the lids you need by yourself?
- Can you reach for something on the top shelf?
When was the last time you could?
How much better will your life be if you can do these activities of daily life again?
How will that affect your relationship with yourself, your family, or your grandkids?
All of these things can be fixed or greatly improved. Most senior fitness clients comment that after training just a few months, they have fewer aches and pains.
What Does a Healthy Lifestyle at Home Entail?
There’s another aspect of activities of daily living (ADLs) that is often overlooked, and that includes the activities that SHOULD be part of your everyday life. This is why we include healthy lifestyles in our training, especially our training for functional fitness.
Healthy lifestyles should include aerobic and other exercise modalities that you do consistently, day in, day out. In addition, a healthy lifestyle includes proper sleep habits, having good relationships with food, and making good food choices the majority of the time. (Of course, nobody’s perfect, and you should be able to enjoy yourself.) It also includes having a social support system.
This is where we strive to really make a difference between Leverage Fitness Solutions and other gyms. We strive to help in all these other areas that most turn a blind eye to. When you begin training with us, you become a part of a family and circle of friends who care about you, understand what you are going through, and are there for you.
Other facilities may focus on getting stronger, and many offer random tests of strength. But our exercise programs for older adults and everything we do is science-based, with normative tests that are relevant and meaningful to you and your goals.
Case in point, did you know that if you can’t go from standing to sitting on the ground and back up again in less than nine seconds, it has been proven that you are at a higher likelihood of stroke and not living independently? Most people want to avoid the rest/nursing home. We can show you what it takes and how to accomplish it.
But exercising as an older adult isn’t about avoiding the bad. Your 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and beyond can be the best decades of your life! So, don’t fall victim to the false notion that you can’t do something just because ‘you’re too old.’
“Age is nothing. Waking up is everything.” -Maya Angelou
Let us help you defy the status quo around aging and take your life back!
An Activities of Daily Living Checklist
Many things are considered ADLs, such as the ability to eat/feed yourself or communicate with others. These ADLs are definitely important; however, they are out of our scope of practice.
For our purposes, we focus on the activities of life that can be improved with proper health and training.
The following is a checklist of daily living assessments that we strive to help all our clients achieve safely.
- Can you sit in a chair and stand back up without using your hands 20 times in 30 seconds?
- Can you get down to the ground (sitting) and back up to your feet in under 9 seconds?
- Can you walk 8 feet, turn around, walk back and sit down in under 5 seconds?
- Can you tap your foot on a 6-inch box over 50 times in 30 seconds?
While this isn’t a comprehensive list, these assessments are correlated with higher levels of physical function, better aging, and longevity.
If you can’t pass these functional ADL assessments, it’s time to take assertive action. We can help.