CANTON — At Orchard Cove, the residents are into fitness. Nearly three-quarters of them take aerobic classes, lift weights, or practice yoga and balance techniques. These seniors exercise to feel good and, in many cases, to fulfill loftier goals.

A lifelong fitness enthusiast, Sylvia Namyet, 88, supplemented her regular yoga practice with new routines to help her balance. Her long-term goal involved making a solo cross-country trip to visit adult children in Oregon and California. After a year of physical conditioning, she finally did it last year, the first time she had traveled alone in 45 years.