Top tips for staying cool this summer
In your older adult fitness classes
Ageing bodies are changing bodies, and a common issue for aging bodies is that natural bodily processes start to slow down a little. For instance, as we age our bodies take a little longer to adjust to changes in temperature. The air conditioning may have kicked in and the room has cooled down, but it takes additional time for participants and clients to cool their bodies down too. It also means that if they’re doing a hard workout, lifting the heart rate and warming up the body, the time it takes their bodies to recover and cool off is also lengthened.
For older adults and seniors with chronic medical conditions, their bodies are fighting battles on different fronts so the internal cooling system may not have the power and quick response that it used to. Participants on medications are also at risk, with many medicines having side effects that inhibit the body’s ability to sweat and cool down, or even know that it’s starting to overheat. For more information you can visit the Better Health Channel and read up on Heat stress and heat-related illness.
Those aged over 65 are generally more vulnerable to heat-related illnesses and heat stress, so we want to help our participants stay cool during their summer workout sessions with us. Every facility, function room, class and participant is different, but here are a few ideas you might be able to try this summer to keep your participants cool, happy, and committed to exercising.
In the room
Turn off the lights
If the sun is shining brightly, pull down the blinds and turn the lights off. You might do this during the final stretches and cooldown or when you go onto the floor. Safety is still paramount and our first priority, so make sure your participants can still see you and those around them. This will also depend on your windows and blinds, but for exercises on chairs or on the floor where people are not moving around, a darker room will be cooler. If you are including weights exercises, make sure dumbbells are tucked away under chairs or against walls when not in use so they don’t become a tripping hazard.
Turn down the music
Loud, pulsating, fast, energetic music can be great for a high intensity workout, but it can also be exhausting to listen to when you’re hot and tired. During the resistance section of your class, or during floor and cooldown exercises, put on calming music and turn the volume down. Lower your voice as well and speak slower and quieter, so people are able to slowly bring their heart rates down too.
Create cool pockets
If you’ve got really good air conditioning in your room, it might actually be too cold for some participants - it happens to us all the time! And a battle will begin between those who are hot and want all the fans on, and those that are cold and want them off. Try and create a pocket or one side of the room where the fans are turned off, so people don’t have to have cold air blowing down on them. Older adults can be more sensitive to the cold, just as they are more sensitive to the heat, so try and provide temperature options in your class. If the room is a comfortable temperature, it can be a good idea to turn off/down fans during stretches and cooldown when the body isn’t moving around as much and people often start to feel the manufactured cool.
During the workout
Alternate high and low intensity training
If you are running a cardio class where you might normally do a 20-30 minute cardio routine, try breaking it up into two or three sections and intersperse your resistance training in between. You might do your cardio warm up then low intensity band exercises, then cardio, then bodyweight exercises, then cardio, then floor exercises. Try not to have extended periods of cardio and high intensity exercises, but instead give older adult participants a chance to bring the body temperature down regularly.
Extend the warm up and cool down
Where you might traditionally do a high intensity cardio warm up, try doing dynamic stretches and flowing circular movements to warm up the muscles without lifting the heart rate. Where you might usually have a five minute warm up, push it a little longer, and the same with your cooldown, to increase the periods of low intensity exercise in the session.
Have lots of drink breaks
If the room is heating up or it’s been a really hot night, or you’re doing relatively challenging exercises, you might have a drink break every five minutes - and that’s ok. Make sure to give participants lots of opportunities to grab a drink, and maybe even splash some water on their face if there is a drinking fountain or tap nearby. Also encourage your participants to be drinking in the morning before class, and to continue drinking when they go home too. Loose, lightweight clothing also helps - encourage participants to wear singlets instead of heavy t-shirts.
Pick your exercises
Run a chair-based workout
During standing workouts the blood naturally has to work harder to get from the toes all the way up to the heart, and the heart up to the brain. Run a chair-based workout and stay seated for the class to reduce the effort the body expends to keep the blood moving. While chair-based exercise can be high intensity and strenuous, choose exercises to suit both the class and weather forecast, and reduce the risk of heat-related dizziness and fainting. If you need training in this area, sign up to our Chair-Based Exercise for Older Adults online course that goes through a range of cardio, balance, lower body, core, and strength exercises on the chair.
Keep it low
Exercises that lift the arms overhead, whether that be during an aerobics routine or a dumbbell shoulder press, naturally elevate the heart rate because the body is working harder. Try keeping all of your arm exercises below shoulder height to keep the heart rate down. Keep the head up too - high body temperatures affects blood pressure, so coming up quickly from the floor, or exercises that drop the head and then come up (eg. touching toes), should be avoided. Choose low intensity exercises and skip the high intensity jumping exercises during the summer months too.
Include breathing exercises
Slow deep breaths are great for circulation, but they’re also great for lowering the heart rate as people concentrate on slowing their breathing. Breathing exercises are also a very low intensity exercise so they’re going to naturally help people cool down. Our participants love it when we let them lie down on the floor at the end of class and focus on their breathing for a few minutes, before they have to get back to their hectic realities!
Include balance exercises
Balance exercises are a great way to keep working the muscles without lifting the heart rate. They have the added bonus of also challenging the brain, co-ordination, flexibility, and strength. All of your older adults and seniors fitness training should include balance exercises, but summer can be a time where you increase the time spent on balance training. If you’re not sure what exercises you can include, try our Balance Training for Older Adults online training course .
Stay on the floor
Why not run a full class on the floor? Include a series of stretches, a round of flexibility work, your core exercises, and strength exercises in tabletop, with time for breathing and relaxation at the end. Participants often love doing something a little different, especially if it means they stay cool. If you have the resources, you can also do a full workout on a swissball, with standing, seated, and floor exercises utiilising the ball.
Before and after
Arrive early
We all know what it’s like when you’re running late - you start rushing, and you soon get hot and bothered. Encourage your older adults to get to class or their personal training session early and sit inside with the air conditioning. This means that they won’t be rushing and won’t be heating up unnecessarily. Their body temperature will even have time to slowly adjust to the room temperature, and hopefully come down a little before your session starts. When they are moving around outside, encourage them to use an umbrella to shade themselves from the sun’s scorching rays.
Go for a swim
If you’re at a facility with a pool, encourage your participants to bring their bathers so they can all jump in the pool and cool off after their workout. Get a group to go together so people can get to know each other as well and make it a social activity!
Stay for a coffee
If your facility has a coffee shop or public area with chairs and tables - and air conditioning - encourage participants to stay after class and enjoy the air conditioning before they head back out into the heat. This can be a time where they can bring their heart rate and body temperature down, get to know each other, and also be in an environment where if something does happen to them due to heat stress, they’re surrounded by trained professionals. You might also suggest that they change from a hot coffee to an iced coffee!
Some participants may avoid coming to classes and training sessions over the summer months because of the heat, so we want to create a cool and calming environment where they know they can exercise safely. Start putting some of these ideas into practice and educate your older adult and senior participants on what you are doing and why, so they know you’re taking care of them.
Online older adults training courses
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Balance Training for Older Adults
Course4.7 average rating (62 reviews)Balance is a critical part of providing a great workout for older adults and seniors, so we've put together 96 exercises for you that will build better balance in your participants and clients, and hopefully have a little fun along the way too.
$159
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Chair-Based Exercise for Older Adults
Course4.8 average rating (22 reviews)Learn how to build fun and effective chair-based classes for older adults in this comprehensive online course designed by fitness instructors, for fitness instructors. Over 300 exercises, demonstrations, example workouts, handouts and more!
$379
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Complete Resistance Bands for Older Adults
Course4.8 average rating (61 reviews)Do you teach older adults and seniors fitness classes? Want to add in something different and try a resistance band workout? We've got 168 band exercises, including standing, floor, and partner exercises, and ideas for cardio too!
$189