[For Seniors] Fun Exercises You Can Do While Seated
When it comes to recreation essential for the physical and mental health of older adults, exercise is at the top of the list.
Not only does it help prevent declines in stamina and muscle strength, but it’s also effective for preventing falls.
However, some seniors may find vigorous exercise difficult.
For those individuals, we recommend chair exercises that can be done while seated.
Moving rhythmically to music makes it enjoyable and easy to stick with.
What’s more, by stimulating the muscles and brain, these exercises can improve circulation and may help prevent conditions such as dementia.
Even those who aren’t confident about physical activity can enjoy these simple exercises, so please use them as a helpful reference.
- [For Seniors] Recommended Rhythm Play and Exercises
- [For Seniors] Enjoyable and Healthy Chair Stretches!
- [For Seniors] Easy and Fun Core Training
- [For Seniors] Simple Recreational Activities You Can Enjoy While Seated
- For Seniors: Fun and Lively Exercise Recreation
- [For Seniors] Guaranteed to Liven Things Up! A Collection of Brain Training Activities That Will Spark Laughter
- [Recommended for seniors] Rejuvenating Rock-Paper-Scissors Exercise
- For seniors: Leg-strengthening exercises you can do without overexertion.
- Cognicise you can do while seated. Simple dementia prevention.
- [Today's Recommendation] Gentle Health Exercises for Seniors
- Energetic and Lively! Sing-and-Exercise Program for Seniors
- [Seated] Fun Health Exercises for Older Adults and Seniors
- Hand games that liven things up for seniors—also great brain training
[For Seniors] Fun Chair Exercises (111–120)
Popcorn Game
Even if you know that moving your body is good for your health, you might still feel reluctant to get active.
So here’s a fun popcorn game that lets you exercise your feet while enjoying yourself.
Sit in a chair and place paper plates on both knees.
Fill the plates with lots of crumpled-up paper balls.
Think of the paper plates as frying pans and the crumpled paper as popcorn for the game.
When someone says, “Ready, start!”, flutter your legs and march your feet to shake the paper popcorn out of the plates.
Watching the crumpled paper fall from the plates looks just like popcorn popping in a heated frying pan.
Because it’s an exercise you can do like a game, it seems like older adults can enjoy participating too.
[For Seniors] Fun Chair Exercises You Can Do While Seated (121–130)
Prevent falls with rehabilitation!
A simple item that’s just a large cardboard sheet with numbers on it; you move your feet based on those numbers.
While counting the numbers from 1 to 8 written on the cardboard, move your feet to each numbered position.
By doing this step, you’ll become more aware of how you open your stance and step forward and back, which can help promote smoother walking in daily life and prevent falls.
First, get used to the step positions while seated, and once you feel it’s safe, it’s recommended to do it standing.
Great for recreation, too! Newspaper-pulling exercise
This is a fun, chair-seated exercise using newspaper.
First, place a long strip of connected newspaper at your feet.
At the start signal, pull it backward.
Through the motion of moving the newspaper, you train the strength to press through your feet and the muscles that move the legs forward and backward.
Focusing on using your toes to grasp the newspaper is another key tip—and a great training opportunity.
If you do it as a race and focus on speed, it should also help improve explosive power.
Upper body loosening exercises
This is an exercise using a ball that focuses on moving the upper body.
To help you pay attention to the strength of your fingers when gripping, a smooth-surfaced ball is recommended.
In movements where you squeeze the ball from both sides or pull it to the left and right, focus on engaging the shoulders and arms.
In the movement where you grip and rotate the ball, be sure to consciously engage the shoulders.
When you place the ball on your palm and move it forward and backward, it trains your sense of balance and encourages proper posture, so starting with this exercise could be a good idea.
Enjoyable upper body training
To strengthen your upper body, try a towel exercise that gets your fingers, hands, and arms moving well.
Moving your hands and fingers thoroughly is essential for performing everyday actions smoothly.
If you want to focus on moving from the fingers to the hand, hold the towel using only your thumb and index finger and repeatedly tighten and loosen it to keep it taut, or hold it in a similar way and rotate the towel all the way around in a circle.
If you want to move from the hand to the arm, simply spinning the towel briskly is fine.
Also, if you bend your waist slightly while holding the towel and make a motion as if handing it to the person in front of you, you can engage your waist area as well.
Have fun catching the ball with your body
A recommended recreation activity for seniors using a rubber ball.
Rubber balls don’t slip easily, so they’re easier to catch.
This time, work in pairs and toss the ball back and forth, catching it by clamping it between your hands.
It seems like it will train your reaction speed more than catching with your palms.
Switching to one-handed catches or knee catches also adds excitement, so they’re recommended.
Receiving the ball in various ways can help stimulate both mind and body.
A key point is not to overinflate the ball so it’s easier to grip.
Exercises to strengthen your body’s core
For older adults, falls can easily lead to injuries and are very dangerous.
To help prevent falls, it’s important to regularly train your balance.
The exercises introducing how to strengthen your body’s central axis help stabilize your balance when standing and walking, reducing the risk of falling.
If your core axis is weak, your back tends to round, which can cause a hunched posture and lower back pain.
By strengthening the core, your spine naturally straightens, making it easier to maintain proper posture and leading to a body that tires less easily.
These are exercises you can do while seated, so they’re recommended for anyone.