Elderly exercise seated warm up: Mobilising muscles and joints

The most significant reason for warm up exercises is to prevent injury. Stretching cold muscles too quickly is an invitation to injury. As we get older our bodies tell us they need a little extra time to get going, and when we spend a fair amount of time being sedentary, it is vitally important to warm up the body.

It’s not just stretching them that makes your muscles more supple during warm up. Adding in a little bit of cardiovascular exercise, causes the heart rate and respiration to go up. Your blood flow increases and you move more oxygen around the body. That oxygen gets delivered to your muscles, and their efficiency improves.

A warm-up activates and primes the connections between your nerves and muscles. This improves the efficiency of movement during your workout.

Dynamic stretching during a warm-up enhances your range of motion (flexibility), making it easier to perform exercises effectively.

Mentally, a warm-up gets you ready for the physical demands of your chosen activity.

At the start of all of our Chair Yoga classes, we start with a breathing exercise to prepare the body and mind for the class ahead. This just helps everyone to find themselves in the moment and calm the body.

We then move on to a gentle seated warm up. This lasts about 10 minutes. Its a lovely mix of dynamic movements and static stretches. Both help prepare the body for the class ahead. All of this is seated as allows for wheelchair users to participate and those with limited mobility.

In the video this is a shortened version of the types of mobilisation exercises you will experience in your chair yoga class. If you are a care home or individual that would like to try one of our classes, please do get in touch!