Why Isawall Is The Superior Senior Workout System-Part 1

 

 

I’ve had the great benefit over the years of working with many seniors. The term senior covers a vast number of people and often times 55 and older is considered senior by many organizations. That means that this category of individuals can cover people well over a range of thirty years. Suffice to say the abilities, needs, and capabilities of people in this age range vary dramatically.

 

Isawall can accommodate people of all ages and nearly all abilities. We can challenge the most elite of athletes as well as help individuals who are working to maintain independent living, functional fitness, and activities for daily living. We have dozens of exercises for those who utilize wheelchairs, and we are happy to offer a workout system that supports numerous rehabilitative exercises.

 

In this series I want to show you some of the great reasons why Isawall is such a superior workout apparatus for seniors compared to other fitness equipment on the market. From its inception, Isawall was designed so that virtually anyone could benefit from its use. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the reasons Isawall is the superior platform for seniors to train on.

 

Functional Fitness

Functional fitness may be a buzz term that you have heard lately, but believe me when I tell you it is incredibly valuable to the senior population. Younger individuals often take everyday activities for granted. As we age however, engaging in movements involving multiple planes simultaneously while lifting and balancing in coordinated movements becomes much more challenging. Functional fitness helps seniors to train their body in a way that will help keep them doing those everyday activities that they both need to do, and enjoy doing.

 

Functional training on Isawall is designed to simulate as closely as possible common everyday activities. These everyday movements such as lifting, twisting, squatting down, gripping, pulling, pushing, and balancing, are built into Isawalls exercises. When you engage in these exercises, you are doing so in a way that either simulates, or directly replicates everyday movements.

 

Working Your Mind And Body

Functional Fitness on Isawall is ideal for seniors because it not only strengthens muscles, but also forces those muscles to work together to accomplish a given task. Before a movement or exercise can be performed, an individual must make a decision in the mind to perform the task. Once that happens, the nervous system must communicate that message to the corresponding parts of the body that will be used in the movement. Once that has happened, the body must pull all of that together in way that is timed properly, balanced properly, coordinated properly, and executed properly.

 

Isawall Versus Traditional Workout Equipment

Traditional workout equipment typically has the user sit down and engage in pushing, pulling, extending, or flexing. Doing this typically involves one plane of motion. Additionally, the person engaging in the movement has to move the resistance, however he or she does not have to control the resistance. This is a huge distinction that must be considered, particularly with respect to senior fitness training. Lifting on a machine has some benefit as it does strengthen individual muscle groups, however it does so in a way that does not typically translate well into everyday movements.

 

One other downside for seniors using traditional workout equipment is that in sitting at a machine doing resistance training, the core is typically not engaged. Weather putting groceries away, moving something in the garage, or getting up out of the car, core muscles are used to facilitate the movement. The exercises on Isawall are designed to utilize the core in a way that simulates everyday activities. This means that when you go to do those activities throughout your day, your body will be able to do them more effectively and efficiently. The risk of falls and injuries is reduced, because your body is already used to doing those movements at a higher degree of difficulty to start with.

 

Functional fitness is huge for seniors not only so they can keep doing the things they need and love to do, but so they can live life to the fullest and enjoy everyday activities with confidence. Isawall provides the ideal platform for engaging in functional fitness.

 

In part 2 of this series I’ll expand on the idea of functional fitness by delving further into the balance exercises that can be done on Isawall. One of our goals at Isawall is to empower seniors to live life to the fullest, and a huge part of that is improving and maintaining strong balance. Make sure to check back for my next post on balance training for seniors on Isawall.

 

 

Paul Owens is a personal trainer in the Cleveland area. He is a Certified Personal Trainer through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and the National Council on Strength and fitness. He is also a Corrective Exercise Specialist through the National Academy of Sports Medicine. He can be reached at http://www.clevelandpersonaltraining.com