What exercises help to increase muscle tone as we age?

5:45 am is not in my vocabulary since retirement. I got up at 5:30 am for almost 40 years - but not any more. I like to sleep until the mid-day hour of 7:30 am. I used to go to the gym at 6am before work, but my old body would NOT like that these days.
Sue

@realitytest

I am of the same mind about gym memberships. I have belonged to a local gym for the past 9 years and attend 3 active senior classes weekly. I don’t have a supplemental insurance so I pay $20 a month and a yearly $25 annual fee. This is money well spent. We are surrounded by many gyms that are cheaper plus the Y . This particular gym caters a lot to seniors . There are a lot of us in my area. These classes are geared towards strength, balance, cardio and our instructor who is 82 years young also teaches core and is forever pounding it into our heads about preventing falling.

My exercise routine at home and walking 2 to 3 miles daily has become a religion to me. My food is my medicine and I am lucky that I have no organic problems.

I structure my week around classes (which are very social too) and treat it like going to work everyday. I have gotten to the mindset that I can’t not “not exercise”. I am 81 and there are days I feel that age but I wouldn’t be able to do what I do or keep up with my very active healthy family who are good role models if I did not adopt this lifestyle. I feel, and am, very strong and have good balance.

Most people need the discipline and structure of gym classes. If you can work out on your own, that’s great. Either way I think joining a gym that’s suited to you is the right start. I find most people who use the gym are very helpful when you are just trying out a new machine and are happy to give you tips. There are more low cost , monthly payment type gyms than ever before that don’t require contracts. Or check out some senior centers. Exercise can be very addictive once you start feeling the benefits.
Half my wardrobe is gym attire lol.

FL Mary….waiting for a whole lot of rain and wind this week…I’m on the West Coast…Tampa Bay Area…yep right where you see the cone.

I too am 83 and use https://qualitylivingusa.com for education and endorsements on CBDs which alleviate my arthritis in my left shoulder. It taught me to start at the dosage recommended on the bottle of tincture and "titrate up" to the dosage that alleviates my pain. That means, "start low and increase slow." Once the pain is gone, stay on that dosage.

I also have found nothing from Mayo to help me tone my muscles but just ordered two books from Harvard Health Publishing on workouts and core strengthening. "Workout Workbook" is at http://www.health.harvard.edu/wowb and "Gentle Core Exercises" is at http://www.health.harvard.edu/litecore. Hope these three are helpful.

I found doing 3 miles a day on my recumbent bike, I'm 71 yr.old female, has given me back pain free knees. I have torn meniscus and osteoarthritis in both knees, which, among other things, made getting up from the table painful but no longer. Also, I do 5 different repetitions with 5 lb. weights for upper body strength which strangely is strengthening my core muscles. I hope this was helpful...good luck !

I used to be quite muscular, but am now very wasted. Sorry that I can't provide much else in the way of details, since it happened before my diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, and I think I may have thought it was related to a flare of I B S. In retrospect, I now suspect that this "flare" was my pancreas starting to shut down. I plan to ask for a PMR (physical medicine and rehab) referral when I next see my oncologist, but that is a couple of weeks off. In the meantime, I wonder if any of you have exercise routines, or links to online sets of exercises.