Every time one of us is with mom for the day, we do exercises with her and walk with her to help her keep up her strength and balance. It is a constant effort on her part and all of our parts. Mom is 90.
Dad at 95 absolutely refused to exercise at all with any of us – he had bad COPD and exercising left him more breathless and he didn’t honestly see the point. He was tired and felt lousy the last few years of his life.
The CNA sometimes could cajole him to walk a bit and he had to walk from where their independent unit was to the elevator and dining room. Walking from his unit to the car to go out with each of us was a big struggle for him and towards the end, he just didn’t feel up to it and told us to bring back food instead. It really depends on the individual, how much they want to keep up their strength and flexibility and how hard they’re willing to work.