Improve Stair Walking - Exercises For Seniors | More Life Health

G'day everyone welcome back to another exercise video for those of you new to this channel my name is Mike physiotherapist and your seniors health and fitness coach and what we're going to go through today are exercises to ensure you walk stairs with ease now I know a lot of you watching this may have trouble doing stairs I do get many people writing in to me saying they have trouble on stairs and I want to cover this in the video we go through today so we'll be going through some exercises and I will be discussing the reasons why you have trouble walking stairs during this exercise video I will be using a step like I did in one of the last exercise videos it's alright if you don't have a step you can't get one I'll pop a link to where you can get one down below but if you don't have a step see what I'm doing in this exercise video and then when you get to a step you can practice the exercise I'm doing okay so before we get into the exercise video let's go through the reasons why people have trouble walking stairs now there's four of them the first one being lack of strength now that could be in both legs or it could be in one of the legs also going down stairs requires a certain level of strength known as eccentric strength to get down the stairs because you do have to bend your knee and allow yourself down to the next step which we'll go through an exercise to help you with that the second reason why people have trouble walking stairs is obviously pain if you've got a lot of pain then it makes walking stairs difficult so you have to make sure you're getting on top of your pain but when you do strengthen your legs and improve your flexibility your pain will decrease as well I did also write an article on overcoming pain and the different components you have to look at I will pop a link to that down below as well the third reason people have trouble walking stairs is lack of flexibility or range of motion in the joints if you lack flexibility in your muscles or you've got stiff joints and may mean you have trouble getting your leg in the right position to walk the stairs which means you're gonna have trouble with it so we will do a bit of stretching in today's exercise video as well but you need to make sure your joints are moving adequately and finally the last reason why people have trouble walking stairs is lack of fitness or I guess lack of endurance in those muscles if you've got a whole flight of stairs to cover so if you find yourself coming short of breath it's going to mean the stairs are much harder where you find your muscles fatiguing quite quickly you're gonna have trouble walking those stairs as well so you gotta make sure your fitness improves which we'll do a bit of fitness work today in this exercise video okay enough chat for me guys let's get into the exercise video I'll pop a link to a warm-up video up here in the corner make sure you do that warm-up video and just finally before we get into it if you want to see more exercise videos for seniors to help you improve your health and fitness make sure you press the subscribe button also like this video if you did enjoy it watching alright guys let's get into it okay so we're gonna start by using our step just so we can get the step exercises out of the way for those of you who don't have a step as I spoke about in the start of this video when walking down stairs we have to ensure we have adequate strength or what's known as eccentric strength to allow ourselves to bend our knee and get down on to the next step now if you find yourself hyper-extending you knee at times it means your eccentric or your eccentric strength or your knee control is not good enough so we want to work on that now the best way to do that is practicing it so what you're going to be doing is holding on to the chair and you're gonna slowly bend that knee so see how I'm bending that knee now I'm not just letting myself down and I'm slowly letting myself down onto the floor then we're gonna step back up onto the step by using our arm to help us if you do have trouble and then again we're going to do that so bending that knee slowly stepping back down working that eccentric control okay let's go through that five times nice and slow standing up nice and tall holding onto the chair working that eccentric strength lowering yourself down excellent work stepping back up okay if you do need someone to help you with this video make sure you've got someone especially for safety reasons if you have trouble these sort of exercises again bending that knee slowly stepping back down excellent work let's go two more standing up nice and tall bending that knee slowly stepping back down excellent work make sure that knee is in line with those toes as well okay let's go again standing up tall bending that knee slowly standing back down excellent we are going to do one more just for good luck standing up tall bending that knee making sure its in line with those toes stepping down excellent work so we're working the eccentric strength when we're doing this now what we're going to do is the opposite leg the exact same thing remember we're bending that knee slowly lowering our self down and bringing that leg down to the next step or the floor okay so let's go through that again standing up tall holding onto the chair bending that knee slowly stepping back down excellent work let's go three more actually we'll go four more standing up tall bringing that knee forward not just stepping down you're bending that knee and coming down excellent work stepping back up on the chair let's go again bending that knee slowly stepping down great work two to go again bending that knee slowly stepping down and let's go again last one so you're standing up tall shoulders back and down holding onto the chair or you've got someone for support lowering that leg down bending the knee excellent work okay now you're standing behind your step make sure you keep an eye on everything I don't want you tripping on the step okay now we're going to work the other component of strength known as concentric strength so we're going to just step up onto the step we're going to do ten each side following along with me let's go one great work stepping down having that chair close by two excellent work let's go again three great work using the chair four great work five six seven eight nine and ten excellent work now let's get on to the other leg let's go one two three four five six seven three to go eight nine and ten excellent work stepping down taking a deep breath in and out okay let's go five more each side its usually when or there are flights of steps that are more than ten steps so let's go five more each leg let's following along with me one excellent work two three four and last one five great work stepping down let's get on to the other leg one two three four and last one five great job stepping down taking a deep breath in and out okay popping your step away if you've got a step now with that exercise the higher the step the more difficult the exercise is going to be if you do have trouble doing fifteen steps like we did just then keep note of where you're at keep practicing and then over time you'll get better and better but don't give up guys don't just do these exercises and if you have trouble doing them say I can't do that it's all about practice so you got to keep them up okay let's get on to our next exercise now we're gonna do some squats we're gonna start with a partial squat so standing up nice and tall shoulders back and down feet shoulder-width apart so we're coming to about 45 degrees down coming up pushing equal weight through both those legs let's go for ten one making sure you're straightening those knees and the hips two three four five six seven eight nine and last one ten excellent work shaking out those legs taking a deep breath in and out let's get into the calf raises now so holding onto the chair standing up tall coming up onto those toes let's go for ten one two three four five six seven eight nine and ten excellent work now we're going to get into a full squat so we're going down deeper coming down excellent work coming up equal weight through both legs let's go for five one two three four great job guys five I'm gonna go for another five now six seven pushing through those legs eight sitting back when you do this as well nine and ten excellent work shaking out those legs taking deep breath in and out okay let's get back into those partial squats let's go for five following along with me one two three four and last one 5 excellent work straight into those calf raises shaking out those legs let's go one two three four and five and back in to those full squats so coming down coming up let's go for five one two three four and five excellent work shaking out those legs taking a deep breath in and out okay now what we're going to do are some knee extensions we're just going to lift our leg up like this bending at the knee we're gonna go ten each side let's go one two three four five six seven eight nine ten excellent work let's go for another ten one two three four five six seven eight nine and ten okay we're going to do those hip abductions now so bring a leg out to the side toes facing the front one two three four five six seven eight nine and ten excellent work other leg let's go one two three four five six seven eight nine and ten great job we're going to get into some hip extensions now so bringing that leg back like this and then bringing it forward let's go for ten each side one starting on one side two keep that leg straight three four five six seven eight nine and last one ten excellent work let's change legs one two three four five six seven eight nine and ten excellent work shaking out those legs taking a deep breath in and out okay let's get back into those knee flexions so bring the knee up behind us five each leg let's go one two three four five six seven eight nine and ten what we're going to do now is the hip abductions bringing the leg out to the side let's go for five one two three four and five excellent work on to the other leg one toes facing the front two three four and five great job now we're getting onto those hip extensions standing up tall shoulders back bring that leg out straight behind you let's go five each side starting with the left leg one two three four and five excellent work changing legs one two three four and five great job guys shaking out those legs taking a deep breath in and out okay what we're going to do know is some marching on the spot for 45 seconds to get our heart rate up we are going to bring our knees up nice and high we're going stand next to our chair if you need to hold on to the chair hold on to the chair we'll bring our legs up nice and high and we're gonna do this for 45 seconds if you don't need to hold on to the chair swinging your arm with me if you are holding on to the chair just swing one of your arms okay let's pick up the speed a little bit let's get that heart rate up following along with me bringing those legs up nice and high big smile on my face standing up nice and tall guys that's it excellent work don't actually have a timer today so I'm just going to guess 45 seconds but following along with me excellent work guys that's it keep those legs up working those hips and fifteen fourteen thirteen twelve eleven ten nine eight seven six five four three two and one great job guys taking a deep breath in and out okay now we're going to get onto two stretches we're going to start by stretching out our calf so what we're going to do is bring one leg back like this keeping it straight we're going to bring the other knee forward feet flat on the floor so both feet flat on the floor you wanna bring that leg out until you can feel it kind of stretching holding onto the chair and then you're gonna bring your knee towards the chair but keeping your feet flat on the floor and keep going until you can feel a stretch in the back of that leg I'm going to hold this for 30 seconds so relaxing into the stretch get yourself in the position until you can feel that stretch in the back of the leg keeping this back legs straight holding it for the same time as me following along with me that's it guys feeling the stretch stretching out those calfs we want to get those calfs nice and loose so you've got more ankle mobility you can move those ankles much better to get them into the right position to walk the stairs okay let's go for fifteen more seconds and fifteen fourteen thirteen twelve eleven ten nine eight seven six five four three two and one great job changing legs standing up tall bringing the other leg back keep your heels flat on the floor toes are facing to the front same direction they're not splayed back legs straight bending that front leg bringing your knee towards the chair feeling the stretch in that back leg we're gonna hold this for the same amount of time so following along with me guys keeping those shoulders back that's it excellent job feeling that stretch keeping that back leg straight you can go for another 20 seconds relaxing into it and ten nine eight seven six five four three two and one great job guys shaking out those legs take a deep breath in and out okay taking a seat in your chair okay we are now going to stretch out our glutes or our buttocks we're gonna sit up nice and tall in our chair we're gonna grab onto one leg leaning back and we're just gonna hug that leg and we're gonna hold this for 30 seconds so relaxing into it following along with me excellent job guys keep the stretch up and fifteen more seconds to go and ten nine eight seven six five four three two and one great job on to the other leg now bringing that leg in hugging that leg holding it for 30 seconds feeling the stretch in those in the buttocks or your glutes okay twenty more seconds to go and fifteen fourteen thirteen twelve eleven ten nine eight seven six five four three two and one bringing that leg down taking a deep breath in and out let's just do some ankle circles five four three two and one excellent work other way five four three two and one other leg five four three two one and other way five four three two and one excellent work taking another deep breath in and out let's do some shoulder rolls great job now sitting up tall let's just work those knees so just bringing the legs up like this straightening them out getting that full range in those knees bringing them as far back as you can towards the chair let's come a bit further forward in the chair doing the same thing coming up bringing them back as far as you can other leg coming up bringing it back let's go again coming up bringing it all the way back again bringing it all the way up working those knee joints bringing it back again coming up bringing it all the way back and last one coming up bringing it all the way back excellent work guys we're all done with that exercise video today we've worked our strength we've done some single leg strength and we did higher reps as well we also got that heart rate up by doing more reps with less rest time plus also doing that marching for about 45 seconds now as I've said throughout this video if you didn't get through the same amount of reps as me that's fine remember keep note of how you're doing and practice practice practice that's how you get better that's how you eventually get better at walking stairs and getting those legs stronger being able to do everything much easier you all did great with that exercise video we did only go through two stretches if you do have other areas that are tight make sure you're doing other stretches to loosen up those areas also make sure you do my other leg strengthening exercise videos plus the one we did two videos ago which we did the single leg strengthening exercise video that'll make sure both legs are strong which means you'll be able to walk those stairs much easier alright so I've just gone through editing this video and I just wanted to make this little point and insert it in the end of the video I left out a key point and that is it's quite an obvious point and that is to get better at walking stairs practice stairs so every couple of days go to a flight of stairs you've got around the house or around you wherever and practice them so start with a smaller amount of stairs use a rail as well as you get better start to progress the amount of stairs you do and the amount of sets you do of those stairs as well you'll notice after some time you'll find yourself getting a lot better with walking those stairs that's it from me for today guys I'll catch you next time I'll see you then

Channel: More Life Health Seniors

Views: 140,467

Keywords: exercises for walking stairs, exercises to get stronger on stairs, seniors stair exercises, exercises for help with stairs, exercise routine to walk stairs, trouble walking stairs, difficulty walking stairs, unfit on stairs, improve fitness for stairs, can't walk stairs seniors, stairs seniors, seniors fitness, more life health seniors, balance seniors exercises, seniors leg strengthening exercises, seniors leg exercises, leg strength for seniors, leg strengthening for seniors

Id: Or_pkDFNTYM

Length: 22min 59sec (1379 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 09 2020