Hip Flexor Exercises For Seniors And The Elderly; Hip Marching

Hip Flexor Exercises For Seniors And The Elderly; Hip Marching

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Hip flexor exercises for seniors and the elderly like hip marching are very important in maintaining lower body strength.

These leg exercises will increase your walking endurance and ability to pick up objects off lower surfaces.

Strong ankles and knees help with balance when reaching and turning at home or in the back yard.

This exercise will increase the strength of your hip flexors which are the muscles responsible for lifting your leg when stepping over things like hoses and shovels in the garden.

How many times have you almost tripped over those back yard hazards! Give this easy and helpful exercise a try.

Add it to your daily 30 minutes of exercise and see how much better walking outside will become.

Purpose of this exercise

• This exercise will strengthen your hips and thighs.
• With correct seated posture it will also help your abdominal muscles.

How to do it:

Step 1

• Sit in a chair with feet flat on the floor.

Step 2

Hip marching movement

• Lift up your right knee as high as comfortable.
• Lower your leg.
• Alternate lifting your knees for a total of 10 lifts each leg.

Breathing:

• Exhale during the upward movement phase.
• Inhale during the downward movement phase.

Tips:

• Continue regular breathing throughout the exercise.
• Don’t perform more than 20 hip marchings in a row to avoid fatigue and soreness.
• Move at a slow to moderate speed.

Take it up a notch:

• Place your hands on your thighs and resist the upward movement of your knees by pushing downward.

Lower Body Strengthening Exercises

Watch These Exercise Videos

1. Ankle Circles

• This exercise improves your ankle flexibility and ability to move your ankle upward and downward.
• This is a great warm up exercise for the lower leg and feet.

2. Hip Marching

• This exercise will strengthen your hip flexor and thighs.
• With correct seated posture it will also help your abdominal muscles.

3. Knee Extension

• Strengthening your knees width knee strengthening exercises will improve your ability to stand and balance.
• This exercise will improve your available knee range of motion.

4. Calf Raises

• Strengthening your calf muscles with calf exercises will give your more power to step forward on level surfaces or carry you up hills on uneven terrain.
• Helps pump blood up from your legs to your upper-body and brain.

5. Standing Knee Flexion

• These knee exercises strengthens your hamstring muscles.
• Also helps with your standing balance.

6. Side Hip Raise

• Safely strengthens your side hip muscles to help with hip arthritis.
• Helps maintain your lower body endurance to better walk and side step around objects.

7.Sit to Stand

• Excellent hip exercises to maintain your leg and hip strength.
• One of the most important exercises used daily to keep your independence and confidence.

8. Heel Stand

• Strengthens the front part of the lower leg with ankle stretches.
• You will become better able to raise your toes to avoid tripping.

9. Lunges

• To strengthen your quadriceps and hips with leg toning exercises.
• Improve your ability to get out of a chair and balance.
• Help you with lifting chores around the house.

10. Straight Leg Raise

• To increase your quadriceps and hip flexor strength with this leg workout.
• To strengthen your abdominal muscles.
• Allow you to advance your leg during walking with greater ease.

11. Partial Squats

• Increase your hip flexibility, quadriceps strength and hip flexor strength.
• Improve your ability to get up from a chair and walk.
• Steady your body for better balance and safety.

12. Hip Extension

• This exercise will help with strengthening the hip joint and muscles.
• This will improve the ability to walk and propel yourself forward or up stairs.

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