Physical activity of the elderly provides maintenance of efficiency, health for many years of life. It affects also on the extension of independence and is the cure on many maladies of old age. We can observe the effects of the coming old-age in the second half of life, middle aged, when we are getting older and occurs slow reduction of physical and psychical capacity of organism. „We run to die healthy” - who among us doesn’t imagine how to be efficiency to the end of life in good sport condition? Physical efficiency allows us to achieve optimal quality of life everyday and the performance of motion activities, necessary for health of elderly people. The sole goal of this article is to show how shaped by the views from the past on physical activity of elderly and views of doctors and activists of physical culture on seniors efficiency. The issue physical activity of the elderly is little known because we always pay attention on progress the children and the teenagers, what confirm many pedagogical works. We have not much science publications which encourage the elderly to active and healthy lifestyle. During the research following methods were used: source materials search, source amassing, combining those materials, analysing and interpreting the source materials, also explaining some of the historical facts with reference to reality of that times. The research covers elaborations about physical activities, medicine and history of physical culture field literature, and the recreation of elderly. Furthermore the method of individual observation was used. The article shows the role of the elderly people physical activity in hygienic aspect and his influence on extension of life. A very important role plays also family, their help, care on senior and mutual support and social awareness, which allows to actively participate the elderly in physical culture, whose aim is to maintain the efficiency to the end of life.