Cross-trainers

Cross-trainers move your whole body - your arms, chest, back, glutes, legs. They are low impact machines, causing less jarring of your knees as compared to jogging (particularly jogging with a heel strike). Cross-trainers provide a efficient workout for seniors, seeking cardiorespiratory fitness while trying to minimize muscle loss.

An effective way of using a cross-trainer is to focus on connecting your mind to your muscles. For example, focus on 
  • pulling with the muscles of your upper back - your lats, traps and rhomboids. Leading with your elbows will help you achieve this. 
  • push with your chest, again leading with your elbows
  • pull with your biceps or push with your triceps
  • Push down through you glutes or focus on your quadriceps
If you are in a gym, then you can increase the resistance with each workout, focusing on exercising for longer and eventually being able to workout at the maximum resistance. 

If you only have is a simple cross-trainer in a fitness corner, you can use resistance bands to increase the resistance; for example, you can wrap bands around the handles or around your thighs. Even without resistance bands, fitness corner cross-trainers are suitable for helping seniors keep fit.



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