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Just because you're in your golden years doesn't mean you have to give up on your body. In fact, you should never give up on your body, and it deserves special attention during your golden years, helping your body gain strength against to support aging joints and protect against falls and accidents typical of elderly folks. Here are some weight training tips for seniors so you can stay as healthy as possible long into the future.
A huge plus to weight training for seniors is the improved ability to lose weight and tighten up those tummies. There's no reason you can't look forward to a nice looking body simply because you're getting on in your years. Plus, working towards and maintaining a healthy body weight will give you a healthy self-perception which increases self-esteem. This leads to a healthy mental state which has countless links to better overall health and an increases sense of wellbeing. Plus, having a daily or weekly weight training regimen gives people something to look forward to and focus on-this active mental and physical state is especially important for elderly individuals.
Now, understandably, seniors tend to have a few more physical complications than others do, so you should always check with your doctor or specialist before you introduce any new exercises or weight training programs into your lifestyle. Make sure you have a healthy heart and get training suggestions appropriate to your health conditions. For added confidence and safety, you may consider getting help from a personal trainer. Now, you may be thinking that the money for a trainer is simply not in your budget, but what many people don't realize is that you can get a trainer for a limited time-you don't have to continue using a personal trainer over a long period of time. By having just a handful of personal training sessions, you will learn extremely valuable tips and techniques that are highly customized towards your specific needs. You can then take what you learn from those few lessons, take notes, and then use that material to weight train on your own.
For those of you braving it on your own, the absolute best and safest way to start is by beginning your weight training with extremely light weights. You've got plenty of time to train-take advantage of that by starting light and gauging how your body feels after each and every workout. You can then gradually increase the weights you use in your training.
