If you’ve been active all your life, it can be hard to see and feel your body age. But if you’re committed to staying active and participating in sports, there are a few things that you’ll want to do to make sure that you’re able to stay safe while doing these activities.

To help you learn how this can be done, here are three tips for safely participating in sports as a senior citizen. 

Always Practice Proper Form

Whether you’re still living at home or are in a senior living community now, there are ways for you to participate in sports and remain active. But arguably the most important part of doing this is knowing how to use the proper form in order to protect your body. 

When you don’t use the proper form for exercise, you can easily harm your body. You can slip, fall, pull a muscle, break a bone, or just put too much wear and tear on you. But if you know and follow the proper form for all exercise and sports that you’re participating in, you’ll be giving your body the protection it needs to support you and allow you to keep playing sports well into your twilight years. So if you don’t know the right form for some of these activities, make sure you ask for help so that you can best protect and support your body. 

Don’t Push Yourself Too Hard

While you might have been able to play sports all day long, every day of the week when you were younger, as your body gets older, you’re going to need to start taking it easy. 

Ideally, you should try not to get more than moderate exercise when you get to a certain age or physicality. This will allow you to still participate in sports without putting unnecessary stress on your body. While it can be good to get your blood pumping, you don’t want to do anything that puts your heart or lungs in danger, or that causes your muscles to suddenly give out on you. 

Do Cross Training For Balanced Health

If there’s a sport you love, this is a great way to get the bulk of your exercise. However, there’s a lot to be said for cross training as a way to help balance out your health.

When you cross train, you give different muscles of your body a break while working out other areas. Cross training also allows you to work on things like balance, flexibility, stretches, endurance, muscle tone, and more. So if you’re used to only doing one form of exercise or one sport, consider throwing in something new every once in a while. 

If you want to continue participating in sports as an older adult, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you do so safely.