Recommended Indoor Exercises for Seniors

Exercises to strengthen the back and shoulder blades

Recommendation of Towel Exercises

Move your back and shoulder blades to achieve a youthful posture! Raise a towel over your head and move it up and down behind your back, or move it up and down around your waist to stretch your back thoroughly.

You can also work the area around your shoulder blades by bringing the towel behind your neck and slowly opening and closing your arms like bird wings.

When moving the towel up and down, apply firm pressure, and when moving it around your neck, focus on fully stretching the area around your shoulder blades.

Give it a try!

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Leg strength training

Leg-strengthening exercises in bed for older adults

As we get older, pain in the hip and knee joints can develop and interfere with daily life.

Movements like standing up, sitting down, and going up and down stairs use the muscles in the thighs, calves, and below the knees.

In addition, strengthening the gluteal muscles improves posture and can help alleviate lower back and knee pain.

To help prevent becoming bedridden, let’s start building leg strength.

This exercise can be done while lying down on a mat or futon, so it’s recommended for older adults as well.

Leg-strengthening exercises

[For Seniors] Towel Exercises You Can Do While Seated – Leg Edition – [Preventive Care]

Let’s use a towel to stretch and work your legs.

Place a towel on your thigh to add resistance, and raise and lower your thigh.

You can also thread the towel under your knee and simply bend and extend the lower leg to effectively move the area above the knee.

Other exercises include squeezing a towel firmly between both knees, or looping a towel around both legs to create resistance and moving each leg outward.

If you pass the towel under the soles of your feet, you can also train your calves—give these a try!

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Oral exercises that also serve as brain training

[Patakara + Full-Body Exercise] The combo of oral exercises and stepping is challengingly fun!

This exercise adds a physical movement element to the usual mouth exercises, creating a brain-training effect by thinking about combinations.

The basic movement is large marching steps, and each time the step count reaches a multiple of three, you pronounce the syllables “pa-ta-ka-ra” in order.

While firmly counting your steps and considering which numbers are multiples of three, let’s move the body and activate the brain at the same time.

When attention shifts to the body’s movements and counting, the “pa-ta-ka-ra” pronunciation can become quieter, so it’s also important to encourage clear, distinct articulation.

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Great for brain training! Recommended for recreation too: hand and foot exercises

Brain-training benefits too! A ball-passing recreation that exercises the arms and legs [Senior Activities]

This is a recreation activity where everyone forms a large circle and passes a ball around inside the circle.

The person throwing the ball can strengthen their shoulder and arm joints, while the person catching it can train their focus and dynamic visual acuity.

If you make it more challenging by adding variations—like incorporating footwork when throwing—you can also gain brain-training benefits from planning movements.

Playing music and having participants pass the ball in time with it can make it easier to find a rhythm.

There are various tips, such as keeping the shoulders and arms moving smoothly and getting a feel for the rhythm, so offer advice as you go and let everyone enjoy passing the ball.

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Brain Training Ball Exercises

Simple brain training using a ball!!

This exercise focuses on how you move the ball, training not only the body but also stimulating the brain.

You start by alternately repeating the motion of grasping the ball from above and from below, then add movements of the hand without the ball and the feet.

Changing the position where you grasp the ball requires quickness and grip strength, so if that part is difficult, it may be better to switch to a different motion, such as simply squeezing the ball.

What’s most important is performing different movements with both hands and both feet, so proceed in a way that doesn’t place strain on the body.

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Brain Training! Towel Catch Exercise

Brain Training Exercise 9: Towel Catch Exercise

Let’s add some brain training to our towel exercises to activate both body and mind! “Towel catch” refers to the movement of letting go of a towel from your hand and then catching it.

You can do a quick version where you release it for just a moment and catch it right away, or toss it a little higher and catch it.

You can also reverse the orientation of your hand between letting go and catching the towel.

If you do this alternately with the left and right hands in an irregular pattern, you’ll be thinking things like, “What’s the next move?” as you exercise, which makes it effective brain training.

For the quick release-and-catch movement, saying “pa-ta-ka-ra” rhythmically while you do it adds oral motor exercise on top of the physical and brain training!

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