Exercise and fitness isn’t something that only people with full mobility should be concerned about. Anyone can appreciate the benefits of exercising. In fact, it’s even more important to experience the physical and mental benefits of exercise if you have limited mobility. Together with the physical benefits, exercise can also ease depression and reduce stress and anxiety. It can even help improve your outlook on life too. While limited mobility inevitably creates certain challenges, it’s possible to find an enjoyable and rewarding way to exercise.
It doesn’t matter how old you are, your level of mobility and fitness and even whether you’ve ever exercised before. There are numerous ways you can overcome mobility issues to enable you to take full advantage of the physical and mental rewards of keeping fit. In fact, any exercise can offer health benefits. There’s no doubt that limited mobility will make some exercises easier/harder than others. But regardless of your mobility, you should aim to incorporate these following types of exercise into your regular routine.
Cardiovascular exercises
These exercises will raise your heart and increases your strength and endurance. Choose from cycling, tennis, running, walking even dancing. Swimming and water aerobics is a great exercise for people with limited mobility. It supports the body and reduces the risk of joint or muscle discomfort. Even if you spend most of your day sitting in a chair or wheelchair, you can still perform cardiovascular exercise, it’s just a case of finding something that works for you.
Strength training exercises
These exercises use weights or other types of resistance to help build muscle and increase bone mass. Strength training can also help improve balance and prevent falls. If you have limited use of your legs, then focus on developing your upper body strength. If you have issues with your upper body, then focus more on strength training your abs and legs.
Flexibility exercises
To improve your range of motion, prevent injury, and reduce pain and stiffness, yoga and stretching exercises are ideal. If you have limited mobility in your legs, you can still benefit from stretches and flexibility exercises. These can help prevent or delay further muscle atrophy.
Getting started
It’s always good to start any new fitness regime under the close supervision of a personal trainer. However, there are plenty of exercises you can do at home. Make sure you always maintain good posture throughout each exercise and if you have poor balance, then always have someone nearby when you exercise.
When your mobility is limited, exercising may not feel like a priority. But try not to focus on your mobility limitations and instead focus on finding fitness activities that you can enjoy. The key is finding new exercises that work for you. It just takes a little time and experimenting. And when you do make the effort to exercise, feel proud of yourself. Even if you don’t feel it’s very successful at the start, it will get much easier the more you practice.