Kenneth Neagle, 69, spends a lot of time at the gym.
He swims and does aqua-aerobics, pushing plastic foam weights against the water to build muscle and increase his heart rate. He practices postures in yoga classes that stretch and strengthen his body, leaving him invigorated and serene. And he eagerly samples other exercise classes.
All this from a man who “did everything I could to avoid exercise” as a teenager and young man.
Like many older people, Neagle is motivated to work out. “I see people in walkers and wheelchairs and I don’t want anything to do with either one,” Neagle said. “As I got older, I realize the truth in the saying, use it or you lose it.”
No longer are seniors content to walk the malls for exercise. More than ever before, they are pursuing vigorous activities. Men and women over 50 are working out more than any other age group, according to a recent study by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association.
They’re pumping iron in gyms. They’re engaging in competitive team sports including soccer and softball. They’re forming tennis leagues. They’re racing around tracks at Senior Games. They’re line-dancing at retirement centers. They’ve even organized a Florida-based senior skating network called the Golden Rollers.
This heightened commitment to sport is a good idea, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which suggests that seniors incorporate moderate to vigorous physical activity into their daily lives for significant health benefits.
“What the dance club is to the younger generation, health clubs and fitness groups have become to the 50-plus generation,” said Maria Stefan, executive director of the sporting goods group. “They see sports and fitness as the new health prescription for looking good on the outside and feeling good inside.”
Rob Herzog, director of fitness and sports medicine at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Fla., said that when it comes to exercise, seniors “can handle a lot more than we may think.” Recent studies have shown that strength training such as weight lifting has significant benefits for older people at risk for muscle atrophy due to lack of use.
Neagle, a retired city of Miami employee, has discovered after a year of regular workouts that he can easily lift a heavy home ladder he once could barely budge.
“Seniors are more aware and educated about the benefits of being active,” said Herzog, an exercise physiologist. “We definitely promote weights. We definitely see physical and psychological changes.”
Mary Nelle Dressel, 76, doesn’t let a day go by without practicing yoga; it has been that way for two decades, ever since yoga helped her cope with the devastating end of a bad marriage. “It was the instrument that absolutely turned my life around,” she said.
Today, yoga helps keep in check an ulcerated colon and a prolapsed heart valve that her doctor can no longer detect. And with exercise — she also walks a mile and a half a day — she can hardly sense those nagging aches and pains. “Every doctor I’ve ever had said, “Stick with yoga, stick with yoga,”‘ Dressel said.
Dressel’s instructor, Bobbi Goldin, 62, has attracted a significant senior following at her Yoga Institute of Miami. “These are strong, agile people,” she said. “Yoga gives you an awful lot of stamina.”
Goldin said the benefits can be transcendent. “You get more confidence physically, emotionally. And as people get older, they tend to lose that confidence. The wrinkles appear and the body doesn’t act the same. Yoga is awareness.” In addition to the physical gains, she said, “yoga quiets the mind and soothes the heart.”
Herzog agrees that exercise not only strengthens seniors’ bodies but boosts “clear thinking, improves confidence and self-esteem and provides emotional highs.”
He suggests that seniors check with their physician before starting a new exercise regime. “I think if people take a little precaution, it’s great.”
Team sports and exercise classes also create a social outlet for older people who can be at risk for isolation and loneliness. Neagle started working out at the Biltmore Fitness Center after his HMO paid for a membership.
“When you first go, you feel like a stranger. You think, `I can’t do it, I’ll be bad, I’ll fall down,’ ” he said. Then Neagle started bonding with his fitness teachers and other students of all ages, and became “the class clown.”
