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Make sure joint health is part of your fitness regime
We don’t often talk about joint health when discussing fitness. It usually only comes up is when we get an injury, or when warning people not to participate in rigorous workouts that may hurt them. But aiming to have healthy joints should be very much a part of your lifestyle, especially if you want to keep your fitness levels up in your old age. So, pause your movements for a moment and join us to learn more about how to keep them as healthy as possible.
Let’s Get Physical
One of the best ways to keeping your joints healthy is to keep moving – cycling, swimming, walking, and low-impact aerobics are ideal workouts. Like the rest of your body, your joints have muscles around them that are important so you want to keep them in tip-top shape. While you should heed warnings about how too much running (especially on hard surfaces) can cause problems for your joints, it’s important to remember that staying idle can cause problems too. So, find the right balance!
Don’t Just Weight Around
Yup, managing your weight is another important aspect when it comes to joint health. Maintaining a healthy diet – red peppers, cherries, turmeric, walnuts and leafy greens are beneficial to the joints – keeps the excess weight away and as such, puts less pressure on the joints in the lower part of your body. Eating well clearly has many other health-related benefits too so you’re essentially hitting many birds with that one stone (or however much in kgs that is!).
Alpha Potato, Beta-Carotene
Sweet potatoes, besides oranges, carrots and spinach, are chock-full with beta-carotene. Being a carotenoid, beta-carotene primarily works in converting into vitamin A in your body, and acts as a natural sunblock for your skin. Great Scott!
Consuming sweet potatoes can also equip your body with antioxidants that provide your skin cells with an ironclad protection against sun exposure. This in turn, may be able to prevent sunburns, cell deaths, and dry, wrinkled skin. Interestingly though, consuming high-amounts of beta-carotene may also add a warm, orange-coloured tan to your skin, which can contribute to a healthy, glowing appearance. Goodbye fake tan, hello sweet potato!
Mix It Up
They say that variety is the spice of life and that applies here as well. When working out, consider mixing your fitness regime with a myriad of exercises that don’t always put the same pressure on your joints. Go with something like cross-training or combine running with low-impact activities like cycling or swimming. Celebrity Fitness offers several types of indoor cycling classes, including Pelaton, 50 minutes of dynamic choreography paired with the latest tunes.
Flexibility Is King (or Queen)
Be flexible in every sense of the word. Besides changing up your fitness routines as mentioned above, make sure that to do lots of stretching exercises or perhaps some yoga to keep your body (and joints) nimble. What you should aim for is to maintain a full range of motion. Try a Floating Yoga class at your nearest Celebrity Fitness studio. It combines yoga, Pilates and functional movement into a zero-impact workout (you’ll be suspended in a hammock) that strengthens muscles and joints.
Wee Bit of Change
When talking about joint health, the emphasis is usually on protecting the knees and ankles but don’t forget about your upper body. Tweak your lifestyle to make small adjustments that will go a long way, such as using your body to push through a door instead of using your palm or purchase wrinkle-free clothes so as to minimise ironing.
