Simple Seated Exercises for Seniors to Improve Office Life

In older adults, physical activity and exercise lower their risk of chronic disease. It increases life expectancy and preserves their functional abilities. Employees need to stay fit for doing daily living activities, such as cooking and cleaning, and improve the physical health of aging. Exercise can benefit older adults from all walks of life - active and inactive, healthy and infirm, and those managing chronic health conditions. Many seated exercises for seniors options can improve strength, cardiovascular health, mobility, and balance. Some exercises are done from the comfort of a sturdy chair. Such activities are better suited for those who have not maintained an exercise routine over the years or suffer from chronic pain or disability. Start with these suggestions.

Warm-up

The best way to begin your workout is by warming up. As muscles loosen and warm, they are better prepared to perform movements, and a dramatic reduction in injury risk occurs. Consider doing these seated exercises for seniors as a warm-up. 

Shoulder Circles

Your fingertips should be on your shoulders when you're seated before beginning any chair exercise for the elderly. Do 15 repetitions of circling your shoulders forward. Circulate backward fifteen times, then reverse the movement. Warming up your shoulders and reducing the risk of strain will benefit you from this exercise.

Neck Stretches

Lean your head slightly toward your right shoulder and gradually straighten your spine. As you maintain this position in this seated chair exercise for seniors, slowly extend your left arm down and to the side. It should feel as if your neck is stretched on the left side.

Releasing, repeat the seated back stretches procedure on the other side. Repeat each side between two and five times. As you stretch your neck and upper back, you will prepare your muscles to do the upcoming sitting exercises for seniors.

Calf Raises

You can do calf raises sitting down to increase leg strength and mobility. Perform two more sets of 10 repetitions after the initial sets, this time lifting both heels simultaneously. Keep the heels raised for 20 seconds after the last set of these seated stretching exercises.

• Place your feet about hip distance apart on the floor, lean forward, and engage your core.
• Lift your heel as high as you can from the ground on your right foot. As you perform the exercise, engage your calf as you raise high on your toes. Repeat ten times with the heel lowered to the floor.
• Step onto the left leg and repeat the movement.
• Work each leg three times with ten reps each.

Wrist & Ankle Rolls

Poor circulation in the extremities of older employees causes them to become fatigued. This routine is the simplest, best chair exercise for seniors that wakes up your hands and feet with low-intensity movements so that you can move onto more challenging movements.

• Sit upright in a sturdy, ergonomic office chair and don't lean against its back.
• It would help if you stretched your fingers before making fists, opening and closing them several times before rolling your wrists ten times each.
• Follow the same exercise routine for your feet. Flex and point each foot separately while curling your toes simultaneously and pointing each foot separately.
• Each ankle should be rotated ten times to the outside, then rolled ten times back in.

Hip Marches

If you are seated in the most comfortable office chair for long hours, you may not feel all that tired. Still, it would be beneficial to at least do this to improve circulation. Sitting hip marches work well for people who need improved hip flexibility or mobility or for those who are looking for a modified option for cardiovascular exercise.

A minimum of 20 marches should be performed consecutively. Repeat two to three more times, then take a break. As a cardio workout, these seated exercises for seniors can be continued or included in a warm-up exercise for boosting the heart and getting the blood to flow before doing strength-training exercises.

• As you sit, keep your feet flat on the floor, hip-distance apart, and back straight.
• Grasp the edge of the chair or the armrests with both hands to keep your torso tall.
• Lean your right leg back in a high-knee march fashion, bending your right knee as high as you can comfortably.
• Put your right foot on the ground with control.
• Repeat on the other side.  

Back Twists

As the torso and pelvis muscles coordinate, the spine becomes more stabilized, and movement is permitted. These muscles perform flexing, extending, rotating, and bending as you carry out this exercise. It is possible to improve flexion, extension, or forward and backward bending by rotating the torso.

In addition to increasing mobility and strengthening obliques, torso rotational exercises can lead to back pain while seated. By twisting your back from a seated position, you're engaging the core, especially the obliques, as well as improving your spinal mobility.

• Straighten your spine, putting your feet about hip-distance apart. Make sure you aren't leaning back in your chair. 
• Lean out toward the sides of the room, using your elbows bent and hands lightly behind your head.
• Inhale fully, then exhale as far as you can as you twist your upper torso to the right.
• Hold your hips in place while inhaling and returning to the center.
• You should be able to twist your torso to the left when you exhale comfortably.
• Bring yourself back to the center by inhaling.
• Twist six to eight times on each side until you have completed the exercise. Perform a second set after resting.

Seated Crunches

If you’re tired of that flab and don’t have the time for some serious crunches, then you will love their routine. Here, you can do ab crunches as an interesting seated exercise for seniors the easy way and all from the comfort of your seat!

• Put your back against the backrest as you lean back on your seat.
• You then want to raise your legs a few inches above the ground and your back a few inches off the backrest while bending forward.
• Hold for ten seconds while you feel the burn in your abdominal muscles.
• The regular repetition of eight ten-second reps strengthens your core significantly.