For seniors: Enjoyable exercises done while seated, accessible for wheelchair users.
In many senior care facilities, exercise is often incorporated as a form of physical recreation.
However, doing the same activity every day can become monotonous.
In this guide, we introduce exercises that older adults can enjoy and continue without getting bored.
We’ve also gathered safe, seated exercises for peace of mind.
These can be enjoyed by people who use wheelchairs or those who feel unsteady when standing.
From easy-to-start movements to exercises that offer a thorough workout, choose and practice according to the individual’s condition and specific concerns.
- [For Seniors] Enjoyable and Healthy Chair Stretches!
- [Seated] Fun Health Exercises for Older Adults and Seniors
- [For Seniors] Easy and Fun Core Training
- [For Seniors] Fun Exercises You Can Do While Seated
- [For Seniors] Recreational activities and games that let you have fun while strengthening your legs
- [For Seniors] Enjoy the Cold Winter! Seated Activities You Can Do
- [For Seniors] Easy and fun seated activities you can do in your room
- [For Seniors] Recommended Rhythm Play and Exercises
- [Recommended for seniors] Rejuvenating Rock-Paper-Scissors Exercise
- [For Seniors] Simple Recreational Activities You Can Enjoy While Seated
- [For Seniors] Enjoyable Indoor Activities! Recreations and Games That Engage the Mind and Body
- Cognicise you can do while seated. Simple dementia prevention.
- [For Seniors] Leg and lower-back training: Fall prevention
[For seniors] Enjoyable chair exercises, also suitable for wheelchair users (21–30)
Winter Song Exercises
Sing-along activities are offered in many senior and welfare facilities.
Singing helps relieve stress and, because it moves the mouth, also works as an oral exercise.
Moreover, combining songs with simple exercises—song-exercise routines—stimulates the cerebrum, activates the brain, and can help prevent dementia.
If the exercises use songs people like, even seniors who feel reluctant to move might think, “Maybe I’ll give it a try.” Seasonal songs, such as winter-themed ones, can also help seniors feel the season as they exercise.
Exercises while singing
For preventing falls when elderly people walk, it’s important to make sure the toes are lifted.
If you straighten your back and take long strides, your toes naturally point upward when you land, and your heel touches the ground first.
This time, we’ll do a healthy exercise routine while singing the well-known children’s song “Tenohira ni Taiyo wo,” which was also featured on NHK’s Minna no Uta.
It’s a full-body exercise that uses the arms, shoulders, hips, and from the ankles to the toes, but it can be done while sitting in a chair, so you can take it slow and enjoy it along with the song.
[For Seniors] Enjoyable Seated Exercises for Wheelchair Users (31–40)
Bean-Throwing Exercise
February brings Setsubun season, doesn’t it? Here’s an introduction to a seated “Bean-Throwing Exercise” perfect for this time of year.
You do the moves to the children’s song “Mame-maki.” Pretending to throw real beans—raising your arms high and swinging them—gives your upper body a good workout.
It can also be fun to imitate an ogre’s facial expressions or try wearing a mask.
Be aware that actual bean throwing can pose a risk of accidental ingestion for older adults.
But with the music-based “Bean-Throwing Exercise,” you can enjoy it safely!
Foot rock-paper-scissors clapping exercise
This is a game where you make the rock-paper-scissors shapes with your feet in sequence, and make the order more complex by inserting hand claps.
By switching the order of the shapes and where you add the claps, you can turn it into brain training.
Repeat the same movements for a while, then change the order once you’re used to it so you can focus clearly on the sequence.
If movement alone is confusing, saying the steps out loud as you go is an easy-to-follow option I recommend.
Goo-Paa Exercise
When your muscle strength declines and it becomes hard to stand for long, exercising can start to feel like a chore.
That’s why we recommend the “Open–Close Hand Exercise” (Goo-Paa Taiso) for wheelchair users as well.
Unlike the recreational version done by opening and closing your hands in front of your chest, this one has you move your hands beside your face or over your head.
This helps loosen the muscles in your arms and shoulders and can also help build strength.
Since it isn’t a heavy lifting workout, it’s something you can keep up for a long time.
Place your right hand open (paa) beside your face and your left hand closed (goo) at your chest, then alternate.
Once you get used to it, add variations such as a closed hand over your head and an open hand beside your face.
Because it only uses open and closed hands, it’s an activity everyone can enjoy together.
Song Exercise
This song exercise features only songs recommended for winter.
Snow, Campfire, and North Wind Boy Kantarō—aren’t they all nostalgic tunes you heard as a child? Here we introduce a Goo-Choki-Paa exercise you can do while singing these popular children’s songs.
It can be done seated, so it’s reassuring from a safety standpoint for older adults.
Since many movements involve using both the upper and lower body, it helps strengthen you both physically and mentally.
You can also express actions like opening and closing your hands with your fingertips, which should provide good stimulation for the brain.
Hip joint exercises
When we think about the muscles needed to stand and walk, our attention tends to go to the legs, but the hip joint plays an important role in moving them smoothly.
By becoming aware of the hip joint’s movement and keeping it moving smoothly, you can support your body more reliably, which may also help prevent falls.
A clear example is doing an exercise where you lift your thigh while seated in a chair.
By moving with large up-and-down motions, as well as firmly to the side and diagonally, you can thoroughly loosen the hip joint and the surrounding muscles.
It’s a kind of exercise where, by supporting yourself with your hands and maintaining balance as you do it, you can also train your lower-back muscles and sense of balance.