Active Aging
Fall is the perfect time to shake up your fitness routine. The heat has died down, but there’s still plenty of light left in the day for outdoor activities.
How can you actually make fall exercise interesting, though? Like so many activities, fitness is more fun when you add a little friendly competition!
All of these creative fall fitness ideas encourage you to get outside, get social, and get active.
Meet Your Neighbors
Take your routine out of the living room and challenge your neighborhood and friends to get moving this season.
Neighborhood Step Challenge
Rather than competing against your smartphone for a daily step count, reach out to your neighbors to get one started for fall.
Set weekly and monthly milestone goals and start a group tracker (virtual or in-person!) to watch everyone’s totals. Make it even more fun by awarding mini-prizes for incremental achievements along the way.
DIY City Tour
Add a little bit of friendly competition to a standard walking tour by creating your own!
Spend a week — in a team or individually — developing your own walking tour of your neighborhood, town, or any nearby area of interest. Challenge friends or other groups to do the same. Include notable sights you’ll pass, relevant information, and fun facts.
When each DIY tour is complete, take turns leading the rest of your friends or other teams through each tour. Have everyone score each tour based on level of interest, pace, and other agreed-upon criteria. Highest-scoring tour wins!
Buddy Up
Spending time with friends is wonderful for mental and emotional health. If you spend time engaging in physical activity, it’s good for your body, too!
Why not combine these two beneficial pastimes? Instead of meeting a friend for coffee or dinner, use this fall to catch up over a shared fitness activity in nature, like a walk, hike, game of tennis, or round of golf.
Morning Bike Rides
Bike riding is an accessible form of fitness for many seniors who would like to avoid high-impact activities.
Whether you’re riding a traditional bicycle or a recumbent-style model, you can start each morning with a quick neighborhood ride. Find a friend and make an appointment; fall is a great time to start out a little before sunrise and catch the colors.
Moonlight Hikes
Fall is also the perfect season for evening hikes by moonlight (bonus points if you incorporate some stargazing!).
Find at least one buddy or join a group for safety; you can often find hiking events advertised through your local parks department or outdoor gear store. Be sure to bring appropriate light sources and emergency supplies as necessary.
Taking a moonlit hike makes even the most well-known trail come alive in new ways, so it’s a great chance to explore your area with fresh eyes.
Community-Oriented Fitness
Stacking your fitness routine with community service is a wonderful way to add meaning to a workout. Not only will you stay active, but you’ll also engage with your community to create lasting change. It’s a win-win!
Charity Walk Teams
If your typical neighborhood walks are starting to feel mundane, look for upcoming local charity walks and runs. You can join an established team or create your own!
Walking for a cause makes the activity even more fun (and rewarding). Get creative and design matching t-shirts or sweatbands for the event. Your team can set a goal to participate in a certain number of walks each season.
Trail Cleanup
There’s almost no better way to spend time in nature than by dedicating some time and energy to keeping it clean.
In spring and fall, many parks and recreation departments recruit volunteers to clean up trails and community areas in preparation for the upcoming months. They’ll provide directions and supplies; you provide the labor. Once you have the training, you can also continue cleaning natural areas on your own throughout the year.
This fall, step outside your comfort zone and try one of these creative fitness ideas to get your mind, body, and soul in shape.
