Regular physical activity is important for the health and mental well-being of people 50 and older — exercise boosts energy, strengthens the heart, and helps older folks manage illness or pain as well as weight. Here’s more good news: Going to the gym is not essential to staying fit — especially since we’re spending more time at home these days and practicing social distancing. There are numerous fitness apps, websites, DVDs and other easily accessible information that show you how to get in shape while in the comfort of your own home or outdoors. Here’s a look at some of our favorites.
Related: 11 Ways to Get Exercise While Just Going About Your Day
MapMyWalk
According to Verywell, MapMyWalk is one of the best free apps for anyone interested in fitness walking. Users can set goals, log walks, save favorite routes, and even find new nearby places for a stroll. The app also offers audio feedback to help walkers improve every workout.
Related: Best Fitness Trackers
Yoga Studio
With a collection of more than 100 yoga videos and meditations, this free app will help users get their yoga fix anytime and anywhere. Seniors can search for classes based on duration (five to 60 minutes); skill level (beginner to advanced); focus (balance, strength, relaxation); and intensity (low to high). Users can also build their own class, thanks to Yoga Studio’s library of poses.
Related: Feeling Anxious? Try This Calming Yoga Sequence
SilverSneakers GO
This free app allows users to tailor the four- to 12-week strength, walking, flexibility, and mobility programs to their fitness level. Also, each program offers demonstrations and tips to modify any movement.
Related: 15 Activities Retirees Can Adopt to Look and Feel Younger
C25K 5K Trainer
C25K, which stands for “Couch to 5K,” is a free app for beginners that is simple to use. Throughout its eight-week program, which includes three 30- to 40-minute workouts a week, the program offers audio cues of when to walk or jog.
Related: 16 Seniors Who Are in Better Shape Than You
The Johnson & Johnson Official 7-Minute Workout
Designed by exercise physiologist Chris Jordan, this workout gets your heart pumping and helps build muscle. The free app requires that users simply need seven minutes, a wall, and a chair to get an effective strength and cardio workout. The program consists of 72 customizable, modifiable exercises like jumping jacks, sit-ups, and push-ups. The video demonstrations and audio cues make it easy to follow along, while the app allows users to indicate their like or dislike of exercises, as well as adjust the intensity level.
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7-Minute Chi
Tai chi is considered one of the best strength-training moving exercises to preserve muscles from age-related decline. It is also effective at gently improving strength, balance, flexibility, and range of motion, and is beneficial for older adults with stiff joints and those who want to prevent falls. The free app offers easy sessions for beginners and the more experienced.
Pocket Yoga
Yoga can help alleviate stress, reduce back pain, bring blood pressure down, and even lose weight. The free app, named one of “the 7 best fitness apps for people over 50” by MarketWatch, has a database of illustrations and videos that show users how to do more than 200 poses designed by certified yoga instructors.
Jessica Smith TV
With a mission of getting people to move more, Jessica Smith offers fitness, advice, and support. The certified wellness coach, trainer, and instructor, and her French bulldog, Peanut, lead their 460,000+ YouTube subscribers in following low-impact strength-training workouts.
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Jenny Ford
Ford keeps the heart rates of her more than 75,000 subscribers elevated by using a mix of step aerobics and walking workouts, exercises that help folks over 50 get or stay in shape. Her goal is to have more than 130 step aerobics and marching or walking workouts completed by 2020.
Related: America’s Healthiest States for Seniors, Ranked
FitnessBlender
This fitness vlog offers videos that include low-impact, high-intensity workouts. Run by a husband and wife team, the channel has a following of nearly 6 million subscribers who tune in to the one or two weekly new videos.
POPSUGAR Fitness
POPSUGAR Fitness, the fitness arm of the pop culture website POPSUGAR, offers its 3.8 million subscribers more than 1,000 videos with new ones added weekly. There are tutorials, workouts, and exercises for all ages and fitness levels.
HASfit
Personal trainers Claudia and Joshua Kozak provide more than 1,000 full-length workout routines and 30- to 90-day fitness programs for those of all fitness levels. With more than 1 million YouTube subscribers, the duo is on a mission to get and keep people fit. There’s also an HASfit app for iOS and Android, as well as a website where videos are grouped into categories, including one specifically for seniors.
Leslie Sansone’s Walk at Home
The official YouTube channel of Leslie Sansone’s Walk at Home caters to her more than 1.6 million subscribers. Sansone started her walking program at a health club in the 1980s, and it has grown into one of the top in-home walking programs worldwide. Her “walking” burns more calories than a stroll around the park because it’s a series of multi-muscle moves set to the beats per minute of music.
Eldergym.com
Doug Schrift, a physical therapist, geriatric specialist, and senior fitness coach created Eldergym Senior Fitness to explain stretches and strength training moves for seniors. His website is chock-full of articles, detailed exercises, podcasts, and free videos.
Related: 12 Health Goals for Seniors in 2020
Standing Energy Tai Chi
Price: $20 from Amazon Buy It Amazon offers a healthy selection of DVDs suitable for seniors wanting to get in shape. “Standing Energy Tai Chi” teaches this low-impact activity to those seeking to learn basic exercises through movement, and aids in increasing coordination and balance. Participants can expect to strengthen muscles and improve flexibility.
Yoga for Seniors with Jane Adams
Price: $15 from Amazon Buy It Amazon reviewers say this DVD is perfect for seniors and can be used by all fitness levels. It offers three yoga practices that focus on stability, flexibility, and strength.
Guide to Chair Exercises
California Mobility, a company focused on elderly care, has created a guide that requires only one piece of equipment that everyone will surely have — a chair. The guide takes participants through various exercises targeting the arms, core, and legs.
