Wellness with Age: Tips for making exercise easier

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, July 15, 2026

By Crystal Linn

We all know exercise is important for a healthy lifestyle yet for many of us exercising seems to end up at the bottom of our ‘to-do’ list. In addition the concept of exercising can leave us with a negative, depressive feeling. In this column I would like to share some positive thoughts on the subject, and to share ways to make exercising easier.

To start with if the word exercise brings many negative images to mind, eliminate the word and find a more positive way to replace it. Two examples are physical movement and enjoying the great outdoors.

According to the Mayo Clinic there are seven key benefits of exercise: weight management; combating health conditions and diseases; better mood; energy boosts; better sleep; an improved sex life; and a chance to have fun and be more social.

The physical movement created by exercise allows oxygen and nutrients to move throughout the body more freely creating a healthy body and reducing the chances of developing dementias.

There are four key types of exercises. They are:

Endurance — increasing one’s breathing and heart rate and improving heart health. Examples of endurance exercises are walking, dancing, swimming, and climbing stairs/hills.

Strength Training — making one’s muscles stronger. These exercises include weight lifting, using resistance bands and body-weight exercises such as push-ups, sit-ups, squats and wall-push-ups.

Balance — helping to prevent falls, which is critical for healthy aging. The best exercises for this are standing on one foot, walking heel-to-toe, squats, dance and tai chi.

Flexibility — stretching one’s muscles, keeping the body limber and able to move easier. The best examples are stretching, yoga and tai chi.

It has been my personal experience that it is easier to incorporate exercising into my daily routine than to attempt to set aside 15-30 minutes at the same time each day. A few examples of this is to do squats and heel drops while I am in the kitchen waiting for food or water to heat up. I often do strength training while watching TV, and I do my diaphragmatic breathing while standing in line or sitting at a red traffic light.

To make physical activity more social, be creative. Some ideas are to go walking with a friend or two, or join, or start, a bike club. Make an appointment with a friend to go swimming or to the gym together. As a side note, Medicare pays for many gym memberships.

In my writings and classes I recommend “swapping out.” If you do not enjoy bike riding then go swimming. If you do not enjoy jogging then go bike riding. I also encourage people to be gentle with themselves and to take it easy. The goal is to improve out bodies and our lives, not to stress them out by overdoing.

A physical therapist friend, Corey, says our health is the most valuable thing we have and exercise is one of the best ways to maintain that health.

We invite you to share your exercise stories with us at Info@WellnessWithAge.com. I personally answer every email.