It’s fantastic if your elderly family member has started exercising, but it’s all too easy for that initial motivation to fall away. These ideas can help your senior to hang onto the momentum that she has so that she can keep going and experience even greater benefits from all that extra movement. 

Find New Activities if She’s Getting Bored

Boredom is a huge motivation killer for many people who are trying to exercise regularly. The key to sticking with a movement plan long-term is for your elderly family member to find activities that she loves to do. That way how she feels about the activity and how she feels afterward will be what motivates her to keep going. 

Look for Ways to Just Add More Functional Movement 

Functional movement is movement during the day that has a purpose. So, if your senior likes to garden, she might plan out a new garden in her yard that takes some time and effort to set up. Likewise, finding ways to add steps into her existing day can be a great way to keep her moving, especially while she’s trying to find that activity that she loves. 

Exercise with Friends or a Buddy 

Working out with someone else can be incredibly motivating. First of all, someone else is depending on your senior to work out with them. Second, this makes exercise a social event for your senior. If she has friends who want to exercise with her, that’s a great idea. But even if she doesn’t have local friends, your loved one may find that working out alongside elder care providers is a great plan, too. She can get companionship and you’ll know she’s not working out by herself. 

Track Progress 

It’s so easy to give up and to feel unmotivated when it seems like nothing is happening. That’s why finding ways to track progress is so important for overall motivation. Your senior might want to keep a workout journal, where she keeps track of her wins. Or she might find that taking a picture weekly or even daily helps her to see exactly what all that hard work is doing for her. 

Sticking with an exercise routine is hard work, and your senior might need all the help from you that she can get. Using all of these tools can help her to find her own path to sticking with her plans. 

If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring Elder Care in Seneca, SC, contact Heart of the Carolinas Home Care at 864-991-3116.  Providing Home Care Services in Greenville, Simpsonville, Greer, Anderson, Spartanburg, Mauldin, Seneca, Laurens, Charleston, Columbia and the surrounding areas. 

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Edward Harrison

Founder at Heart of the Carolinas

Edward Harrison founded the Heart of the Carolinas Homecare in 2007 when he saw there was a need for caregivers that provide non-medical home care services, at a price that most people could afford. It was standard in the industry to require hourly minimums and it was common to be assigned a caregiver, not matched with one based on your individual personal needs. Edward understood that to make a successful relationship between caregiver and client, skills were not enough, personality and compatibility plays as much a role as do skills.

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