What types of exercise should you do?

How much do you need and what types of exercise should you do? The most important activity is cardiorespiratory exercise, also called aerobic exercise.

It engages several large muscle groups with enough vigor to make talking challenging but not impossible. Examples include brisk walking, jogging, swimming, cycling, skating, and cross-country skiing. The government recommends at least 150 minutes a week (30 minutes five days a week).

Resistance training involves loading muscles with more weight than they’re accustomed to. You lift weights (jugs of water or milk work fine) or work against elastic bands or rubber tubes.

Such exercise builds muscle and bone. Weightbearing aerobic exercise (e.g., walking and jogging— no need to carry weights while you do so) also stimulates bone to deposit more minerals, which combats osteoporosis (brittle bones).

The government recommends resistance training two times a week. Each time, work out all the major muscle groups—your arms, legs, shoulders, back, abdomen, and buttocks. (You can also work out fewer groups on any given day, as long as you get through the series twice.)

Flexibility training keeps you limber, making it possible to tie your own shoes and other useful skills. Stretch your joints through their full range of motion, two to three days a week. The older you get, the more you may welcome a series of stretches each morning.

Throughout this blog, we recommend a number of stretches to keep your joints warmed up and flexible.