The Must-Do Exercise for Seniors: Marching in Place

The Must-Do Exercise for Seniors: Marching in Place 

An important positive change that has taken place over the last few years is our awareness of the importance of exercise and activity. In the cities and smaller towns, more and more people are joining the fitness cult, joining gyms, doing Zumba and aerobics, taking up yoga, and running marathons. The seniors, too, persons in mid-fifties, sixties and beyond, have taken up fitness in a big way. As families have shrunk, more and more young people have gone out in search of livelihood and helping hands have become scarce. Seniors have realised that they need to stay fit and mobile to look after themselves and enjoy life.

While the young people have many options available, almost ninety per cent of seniors take up walking as the go-to exercise to keep fit and agile. There is no doubt that walking is indeed a great activity that engages fifty percent of our muscles directly or indirectly, improves metabolism, improves heart health and builds up stamina. But walking does not fulfil some of the special needs of senior persons. Let us examine closely.

With age, we tend to lose our balance and agility of the lower limbs, making us more vulnerable to slip-trip  & falls. Also, because of underuse, our hip flexors become weak, and we find it hard to negotiate stairs. The sedentary daily activities of a retired person no longer engage the core muscles ( the abdominal and the lower back muscles), leading to a propensity to back pain and a pot belly. Therefore, the ideal situation will be walking mixed with an exercise that is simple, does not require equipment or a gym membership, is easy to do and not too tiring. Yet, it should improve balance strength and flexibility of our hip muscles, and engage the core.

Enter marching in place…Left..Right..Left..Right…Left. Marching in place is also called ‘Marching on the spot’ or ‘Standing March’

In our early school years, we all have done the many variations of marching in place; in NCC, in scout guides, or as a preparation to school day, Independence Day and Republic Day. It might have felt like grunt-work back then, but forty years later, it’s a wonderful exercise that caters to all the gaps left by walking.

Start your day with a couple of minutes of marching in place, or do it after your session of walking. You can start with only two minutes; a minute of deliberate slow lifting of legs, and a minute of vigorous but leisurely marching, swaying your arms too..like the people in uniform do in their parade.

It is best to do it with walking shoes. Some of the seniors may have diminished sense of touch in their feet, and can take a little support by holding on to a chair with one or both hands.  Take care to not stamp your feet hard on the ground. You can diminish any chance of hard impact by doing it on the carpet or on the patch of a grass. 

Marching in place is a very functional exercise. It eases out your daily chores of climbing a flight of stairs, taking a bigger step to avoid a small pothole on the road, and negotiating all the turns and bends. Most importantly, it dramatically improves your balance, diminishing the chances of a fall.

Start small..two minutes a day, and increase the duration gradually to up to five minutes a day. For further guidance, take the help of the many videos available on You-Tube.

Cheers to a smarter and fitter you who is sure on her/his feet.

Dr. Ashish Roy. MD

Child Specialist; Health & Wellness Expert.