Workouts For Every Season In Your Life
From toddler to pregnancy to senior life, there are so many benefits to staying fit and active
Did you know that exercising even just once or twice a week can reduce your risk of death from heart disease, cancer, and all other health causes?
Exercise is one of the most important things to keep our body in its healthiest shape, on top of good diet and sleep. But even though we are constantly reminded of this fact, many of us still fail to incorporate a healthy exercise routine in our daily lives.
For children and teens ages 6 to 17, the American Academy of Family Physicians recommend at least an hour of physical activity everyday. This could include playtime around the house, running around, or before Covid-19, even P.E. class and after-school shenanigans. Because classes are suspended because of the pandemic, the burden to keep kids active then falls on the parents and guardians.
For adults, around 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise is enough for a week. Even though adults are more preoccupied with a lot of responsibilities like school, work, and family life, making time for exercise makes all the difference.
In fact, even if you’re a “weekend warrior” or someone who may not be hitting the recommended amount of exercise but would make time during the weekends to put in some decent physical activity, you’re still 30% less at risk to die from heart disease, cancer, and other health causes compared to those who were completely inactive. This is according to a recent study published by JAMA Internal Medicine, whose bottomline was: “Doing something is definitely better than doing nothing: Any amount of activity helped cut the risk of dying of heart disease by about 40 percent compared to people who get no exercise at all.”
Pregnant women also benefit so much from exercising regularly. If you are a healthy mother and your pregnancy is normal, regular exercise will help reduce back pain, ease constipation, may decrease your risk of gestational diabetes and preeclampsia.
The fact is that: exercise is good and healthy in every season of your life. And if that’s convincing enough to get you off the couch and find something active you can do, allow us to walk you through some of the most optimal kinds of exercises to inspire you to get moving.
Take note that these activities are not hard rules for each age range. We are huge proponents of not letting age dictate the kind of exercise, activity, or hobby that you want to pursue. If you’d like to start roller skating at age 40, then go for it! If you’re only discovering yoga at 50 years old, there are many variations that you can find to tweak every flow to your practice. What we’re about to share are just suggestions and pockets of inspiration to motivate you to start moving or keep moving, whatever age or in whatever season you are in your life now.
Check out the gallery below for our list of workouts and exercises appropriate for toddlers to pregnancy to senior life.
Workouts For Every Season Of Life
Workouts For Every Season Of Life
Kids (3-5 years old)
At this age, kids are recommended to have physical activity every day throughout the day. If your kids are in lockdown with you, it’s good to motivate them to keep moving through a variety of enjoyable physical activities. Why not get your kid an indoor playhouse? This super playhouse from Haenim Toys Philippines has been a blockbuster hit in pandemic, entertaining younger kids even at home. It comes with a slide, swing, and a small area to play house. If kids can’t go out, then bring the playground to them!
Photo Credit: Haenim Toys PH
Children and adolescents (6-17 years old)
A lot of kids at this age start to get interested in playing sports. Most kids usually get to decide what sports they want to pursue as they experience them in school. But since classes are still suspended, maybe this is the perfect time to bond with your child while doing something you both can enjoy? Teach them to ride a bike and you can bike around safely in your neighborhood. Decathlon has a wide range of kids bikes and appropriate safety gear to keep them protected from injuries.
Photo Credit: Decathlon
In your 20s – Embrace your peak
Your 20s is your absolute physical peak, and this is the time you’ll enjoy the fastest reaction times and highest maximum rate at which the body can pump oxygen to muscles. This is the perfect time to hone the sport or activity that you’ve discovered earlier, or maybe try something new. Skate sports such as skateboarding and roller skating have become more popular recently because it’s social distancing-friendly, and encourages people to enjoy open spaces more. Chaser Action Sports is one of the leading retailers in the Metro of skating gear like quad skates, inline skates, skateboards, and scooters. At this age, what’s important is to maximize your body’s potential, but to not abuse it with eating too much junk food or depriving yourself of sleep—because trust us, this will come to haunt you later in your life.
Photo Credit: Chaser Action Sports
In your 30s – Keep your body moving
As we enter our 30s, we leave the prime of our physical health. This is because after age 20, our metabolism starts to drop every decade, lean muscle decreases, and body fat increases. In this decade, experts agree that keeping fit means working harder. As the body starts to lose muscle and the bones started to weaken, it’s important to incorporate strength and weight training and other weight-bearing activities into your routine. It’s also a nice time to play around with new activities and sports to train different parts of the body. Circuit training, which is a series of resistance and cardio exercises done back-to-back, is an amazing form of exercise at this age. For some simple weights and resistance to add to your routine, get some kettlebells, resistance bands, and dumbbells from Manila Athletica. They’ve got colorful bands to keep you motivated and excited about your workout, and different weighted dumbbells to match your current fitness.
Photo Credit: Manila Athletica
In your 40s – Get a coach
This is the time to really focus on having a solid exercise routine. By this time, our bodies naturally start to decline, muscles begin to lose mass and elasticity, and hormones make everything much much worse. While cardio is important at this age, it’s even more crucial to incorporate solid resistance training in your daily workout. In fact, it’s very helpful at this age to get a personal trainer to help you achieve your goals, keep in shape, and make sure you don’t hurt or injure yourself. Kat Garcia, more commonly known as Mama Kat, is a celebrity fitness trainer that has been well-versed in online and distance coaching since 2015. So even though we are still in lockdown and most gyms are closed, there’s no reason to not work on your fitness with a solid and experienced trainer ready to help.
Photo Credit: Body by Mama Kat
In your 50s – Focus on mobility, flexibility, and balance
At this age, you’ll definitely notice more pains, aches, weight gain, and even chronic conditions. But as they say, exercise is the number one form of preventive medicine. Exercises that promote better balance and maintain your mobility and flexibility will be very helpful to keep you as mobile for as long as possible. Yoga and tai chi are not just great workouts for the body, but will also help you mentally and spiritually as you come to accept the changes that go with ageing. For a great yoga studio in the metro that offers specialized classes, check out Yoga Manila.
Photo Credit: Yoga Manila
Seniors – Go low-impact
For many seniors, joint pain, arthritis, bad knees are very common, so it’s even more important to keep exercising a daily routine. Low-impact exercises will help keep your body happy without aggravating already painful knees and joints, so look into water aerobics, yoga, stretching, and brisk walking. It’s also extra important to add warming up and cooling down routines so you don’t hurt your muscles and bones.
Photo Credit: Centre for Ageing Better/Pexels
Bonus: Pregnant moms – Stay active if you can!
In most cases, pregnant moms will actually benefit even more if they stay active during their pregnancy. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, physical activity does not increase your risk of miscarriage, low birth weight, or early delivery. In fact, it can even help you promote healthy weight gain during pregnancy, help you lose the baby weight faster after the baby is born, and decrease risk of gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, and cesarean delivery. For a safe pregnant workout routine, check out OneLife Studio, a leading pilates studio in the metro with specialized pre- and post-natal fitness programs. While their studios are still closed due to the pandemic, they can create personalized programs that you can do at home, supervised by their professional coaching team.
Photo Credit: OneLife
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