qathet-based author and fitness instructor Karina Inkster’s fifth book covers strength training at home or on the go for seniors making use of resistance bands.
Called Resistance Band Workouts for Seniors, the book provides 50 exercises for every major muscle group.
Inkster was prompted to write the book for several reasons. She said she did her masters degree in gerontology, which is the study of older people and the issues associated with aging.
“I have a background in working with seniors and also, a long-term approach to fitness and healthy aging,” said Inkster. “But, it was actually my publisher who approached me and said they were thinking of putting out a book on resistance band training for seniors. They asked me if I wanted to write it. It was kind of an assignment, versus an idea that I had.”
Inkster was approached about a year ago to write the book. She said the new publication is based on her first resistance band book that wasn’t aimed at seniors.
“The idea was to use the original resistance band workout and adapt it to the seniors’ niche,” said Inkster. “It ended up being fairly similar. This book is for active seniors who have the go-ahead from their medical team to workout, so it’s not addressing chronic issues, pain management or injuries. It’s a book for active older folks.”
Inkster said resistance bands in general are very portable and compact, so the participant has their whole gym taking up less space than an average handbag.
“For folks who travel a lot, or even for folks who want to workout at home, it’s a perfect setup,” said Inkster. “It’s a perfect solution to strength training without having to just use your body weight, which can be very challenging. It uses very simple equipment that is very inexpensive.”
Inkster said resistance bands can provide a total body workout. She said the book has different exercises all demonstrated by her 70-year-old mother in the photographs, which were taken during one day at Mowat Bay on Powell Lake last August.
“The photoshoot was nine hours long and she demonstrated all of the exercises,” said Inkster. “At the end of the day, she was less tired than the photographer and me, and we didn’t do nearly the amount of work that my mom did.”
Inkster said her mother is a role model for healthy active aging so she was a perfect subject for the book’s illustrations.
More than exercises
In addition to the 50 exercises, the book has workouts designed so readers can maximize their strength training; they can be followed if people need help putting together a program.
Inkster said she has been using resistance bands in working with clients since day one, 11 years ago. She said the bands are not necessarily the whole workout in those instances, so for those people, it’s part of a workout with weights and bodyweight exercises.
However, the book shows that if resistance bands are all the person has, they can still get a great full-body workout. She said those using resistance bands can even get a cardio effect if they are working out sufficiently hard.
Inkster said she uses resistance bands in nearly every personal workout she does. She typically strength trains six days a week in addition to swimming, and resistance bands made an appearance at least three days a week.
Inkster said the bands are “super easy” to find, online and Canadian Tire in Powell River has a selection.
One of the features of resistance bands Inkster likes is how easily the difficulty level can be adjusted.
“With dumbbells, you can only go up in increments of two and a half to five pounds, but with bands, you can make incremental changes. You can adjust how far away you are from the anchor point, or, how far apart your feet are if you’re standing on a band. You don’t need a gym membership to get a really great workout.”
People wanting to purchase the book can go anywhere books are sold, said Inkster. She does not sell the book directly from her website, which is karinainkster.com. It is available on amazon.ca, for example, and was released today, June 7.
