Getting and staying in shape is just as important for seniors as it is for younger people. Having a high level of overall fitness is linked with a lower risk of chronic disease, as well as a better ability to manage health issues that do come up. Better fitness also promotes more functionality and mobility throughout one’s life span. An estimated 110,000 deaths per year could be prevented if US adults ages 40 and older increased their moderate-to-vigorous physical activity by a small amount. We’re all familiar with exercise’s ability to improve cardiovascular health.

“As you age, you lose muscle mass, which can have a significant impact on the quality of life. Mental or physical, small or big, new or practiced, it’s always a good time to take a step toward a healthier you. Exercise is one of the best ways to keep your body healthy and release stress.

Functional fitness refers to how well you’re able to do all the physical tasks you need to do each day. For example, if you’re functionally fit, you can carry a bag of groceries without strain, bend down to pick up laundry from the floor without pulling a muscle, lift a child without injuring your back or even perform regular exercise. A large factor in functional fitness is flexibility – and staying active can help. As you age, it’s important to protect your bones, joints, and muscles – they support your body and help you move. Keeping bones, joints, and muscles healthy can help ensure that you’re able to do your daily activities and be physically active. If you are a cancer survivor, getting regular physical activity not only helps give you a better quality of life, but also improves your physical fitness.

This article provides details of the five main components of physical fitness. A good starting goal is at least 150 minutes a week, but if you don’t want to sweat the numbers, just move more! Find forms of exercise you like and will stick with, and build more opportunities to be active into your routine. It’s best to stretch after you have warmed up for a few minutes, or perform  stretching exercises after you completed your workout. When stretching each muscle group, take it slow and steady, release, repeat again. Regardless, all golf requires physical activity and can yield fitness wins.

But older adults in particular should incorporate balance training into their weekly physical activity. If you have a chronic disease and you’re looking to stay active or get more active, a walking routine is generally a safe place to start. “The vast majority of people do not need clearance from their doctor to start walking, unless your physician has told you specifically that they don’t want you exercising,” says Sallis. Regular exercise has been shown to be a buffer against depression and anxiety, according to research. What’s more, other studies show that exercise can help manage the symptoms of depression and help treat it, notes a scientific article.

Also, in untrained muscles, fibers tend to fire in an asynchronous manner. As a person trains them, however, they learn to fire together as one, thereby increasing maximum power output. At the same time, additional small arteries grow within muscle tissue so that they can deliver blood to working muscles more effectively when needed. Get Jesselynn Chuan and guidance for everything from fighting inflammation to finding the best diets for weight loss…from exercises to build a stronger core to advice on treating cataracts. PLUS, the latest news on medical advances and breakthroughs from Harvard Medical School experts. Even core-strengthening exercises for seniors can be adapted to those with limited abilities.

In this guide, we match resources to your exercise needs — at every fitness level. Just as the runner in our example may not achieve a high rating in all parts of health-related physical fitness, she also may not rate the same in all parts of skill-related physical fitness. Though most sports require several parts of skill-related fitness, different sports can require different parts.