Individuals who are older or have varying disabilities might struggle with not having enough strength in their arms. This may be first noticed by not being able to pick something up as easily, or simply just feeling more fatigued with arm movements. This is typically due to a lack of exercises given to the arm muscles, making them extremely weak and unable to help complete tasks of daily living. Today we will go over a couple of exercises, that are demonstrated in the video above, to assist seniors and individuals with varying disabilities to improve their arm strength and get them back to feeling strong
Arm Exercises in a Chair for Seniors – Strengthen Bones and Muscles
Before completing one of the two exercises in the video, you will need to grab some resistance bands for yourself to complete the given exercise. If you don’t have resistance bands, you can use this amazon link here to purchase some for yourself. If you don’t have a pair of resistance bands, we highly recommend you get some for yourself as this allows you to do numerous different arm strengthening exercises to help build bone and muscle mass.
Banded Biceps Curls Exercise
The first arm strengthening exercise for seniors will be the banded biceps curls. This exercise is extremely straightforward, and will start with you in a chair, sitting straight up with good posture. Next:
- Step on the middle of the resistance band with both feet.
- Grab the handles on both sides of the resistance bands.
- Let your arms extend straight down towards the ground.
- Bending at your elbows, bring the handles up as high as you can, without moving at your shoulder.
- Slowly lower the handles back into the starting position.
You can complete this exercise for ten repetitions, or until you feel a good work in the muscles. This exercise targets the biceps, which helps you to bend your elbow, and provide stability to that joint. Once you’ve completed this exercise, you can move onto the chair dip.
Chair Dip Hold Exercise
The next arm strengthening exercise in a chair will help to target the muscles that are opposite to what we worked with the biceps. This exercise will be a great option to target your chest, triceps, and even you shoulder muscles. Between the two exercises, this will offer a balanced approach to getting your entire arm stronger. For the chair dip hold, you need to start sitting in a sturdy chair with good posture. Next:
- Scoot as close as you can to the edge of the chair.
- Put both of your hands behind your butt, or at least to the side of your butt in the chair.
- With your hands in a sturdy position, you are going to straighten your arms as hard as possible, holding the tension throughout your arms.
For the exercise, you may almost feel like you are able to push yourself out of the chair entirely. If you are able to do so, try to actually hold your weight into the chair. Whether you can only straighten your arms and push, or actually hold yourself out of the chair, ideally, you will try to hold this position for at least 30 seconds.
When working these two arm exercises in a chair, try to work up to doing 3-5 sets of each of them a day. A good way to do the exercises are to pair them together, and do them one after another. This will allow you to complete them much quicker, being efficient with your time. Be as consistent as you can when doing these exercises, and try your best! Remember to avoid any of them if they cause any pain.
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