5 Ideas if Your Senior Is Trying to Increase Muscle Strength

How are your senior’s muscles doing? Aging adults naturally lose some muscle strength as they grow older. There are some variables that can cause your elderly family member to lose a lot more muscle tone than she expects, however. She may find that she wants to turn things around and rebuild some of the muscle tone that she has lost. There are some safe ways for her to make some progress toward that goal.

Talk to Her Doctor

Before your senior does anything about muscle strength, she needs to talk to her doctor. There may be health issues or medical reasons for her muscle loss, and she needs to make sure that she has all of the pertinent information. Also, if she’s planning to exercise, your elderly family member needs to make sure that her doctor feels that’s a good idea. Making any big changes that impact your senior’s health isn’t a good idea without her doctor being aware of what is going on.

Look at What She’s Eating

Before your senior makes any changes, you need to know what she’s already eating. If she isn’t getting enough protein or enough calories, that can be part of what’s causing her to lose even more muscle strength. Bumping up her protein intake and making sure that she is getting a good balance of all of the macronutrients, including carbs and fats, can make a big difference. That might mean getting help from elder care professionals to make cooking easier, too.

Consider a Dietitian

If your elderly family member’s diet is mostly made up of junk food or foods with empty calories, she may not know what to eat instead. Working with a dietician as well as her doctor can help her to understand a lot more about what she should be eating. It can also help her to find foods that make have a positive impact on her overall health.

Introduce Strength Building Exercises

Part of improving muscle strength means working those muscles to help them grow. Strength-building exercise can be as simple as walking more or using resistance bands. Your elderly family member might graduate to using hand weights, but that isn’t where she has to start out. Paying close attention to finding activities she enjoys can help her to stick with her new routine.

Don’t Let Her Go it Alone

Above all, your elderly family member doesn’t have to do all of this by herself. Having support from senior care providers ensures that she’s being as safe as possible while she implements her plan. Elder care providers also offer her companionship, which can go a long way toward making workouts a lot less daunting when she’s ready to tackle them. You’ll also know that there is someone there with your senior, just in case something should happen.

Your elderly family member may not want to become a professional bodybuilder, and that’s perfectly okay. But improving her muscle strength can have big impacts on the rest of her life, improving her health and her quality of life.