It is common for people to become less active as they grow older. They become involved in their jobs and in meeting the needs of family and others, and overlook their own physical activity. This inactivity can lead to backpain, obessity, constipation  and osteoporosis. These problems are almost accepted by elderly as natural part of aging when, in fact, exercise can do much to prevent them.

If you find yourself 60 and never maintained a regular exercise program, you shouldn't be afraid to start one now. Don't forget to consult a physician before beginning on a program, though.

The most important thing to remember is that exercise training, at any age, should begin slowly and build gradually.

That's all very well but how do you get elderly parents to exercise? My father has just had stents put in following his third heart attack and tries to walk every day but he hates the cold so when it's Winter he doesn't get out. I don't live close enough to him to monitor what other exercise he does but I can guess it isn't much!

Yes, it's very important that even the elderly exercise. Exercise in the later years helps ward off a lot of aging problems.

Swimming is a great form of exercise for older adults. The local YMCA is a good place to start for that. Some of them are on bus routes and easily accessible by anyone. Also, something like gripping a chair and doing light leg lifts is good. Anything that gets your heart pumping even a few extra beats a minute is a good thing.

Sammy, if he actually enjoys and does the walking in the warmer weather, why not buy him a treadmill as a gift?  That's what my mother and my grandmother did in order to keep walking in the winter time. They even make folding versions that can slide under the bed when not in use so you don't need a lot of room for storage.

A treadmill is a great idea for those cold winter months where no one wants to step outside for the mail, much less take a long walk. I'd love a treadmill but we don't have the money for one right now.

I have one living grandparent and she is as unhealthy as you can get. I feel bad for her but she's pretty much a hermit. She lives off of frozen meals and vodka and doesn't exercise. I think once you hit a certain age a lot of people just don't care anymore. Their partner is long gone and so are their friends so they just give up. :(

Get your father a nintendo Wii. grab something like wii fit and wii sports. that way he can stand infront of the telly and play boxing against the computer and wont even realise that he is excercising!!! also, if he has wii fit then he can do lots of things - like some yoga and some good cardio stuff and the wii will track it for him, again he wont even realise that he is working out !!!!