5 Must-Do Exercises for Seniors (60+) to Stay Strong & Independent

Hey there, April of Yes To Next here with my mom, Aiko. Hi. Are you new to exercise or looking for a short, efficient strength workout? Well, this session is for you. Now, we're going to be doing five of the best strength exercises to help you stay mobile, strong, and independent. Now, you can do this one seated or standing, and we recommend you pick up weights. My mom's got two and three pounds over here. I've got five and tens on this side, okay? But you can pick up water bottles, cans, or don't use any weights at all, you know, if you're just starting out, and get used to the motion and add weights when you're ready, all right? Now, we're going to be doing these exercises in 50-second exercise rounds with 20 seconds of rest, okay? Okay, how does that all sound? Sounds good. Gotta build some muscle. Let's go. All right, let's do this. Let's pump some iron. Okay, we'll take a pause here and get started. Hey, Mom, wanna have a seat? Sure. All right, let's warm it up, everybody. Let's wake up those creaky joints and muscles so we can do some strength training and five of some of the best exercise moves, strength moves, to help you build muscle and stay strong. Okay? Sounds good. Yeah, all right. Very good. Okay, give me some nice little step-outs here. Step it out. Hey, we're gonna be working the entire body, everyone. This is a very efficient and effective muscle-building workout. Good. Nice and quick. It's never too late to begin. That's right. Okay, very good. Give me some nice little kicks forward. Okay, yep. We're doing heel touches or kicks. Very nice. Okay, and stop the feet. Give me some open, close. Open and close. Good. And breathe. Don't forget to breathe. Don't stop breathing. Keep breathing. We want you to keep breathing. Oxygen and carbon dioxide out, everyone. Okay, good. Give me some nice little reaches, whatever your range of motion is here. Good. Okay, side to side. Oh, I'm gonna go with you here. Here you go. Good. Okay, one more. And very nice. And give me some shoulder rolls. Good work, yeah. Okay, and reverse it. And very nice. Good job on this quick warmup. We'll take a pause and get started with our strength training. Okay, so our first movement is a side leg lift. So if you're standing with me, you can hold on to something, and it's just lifting the leg out to the side, okay? Slight bend in the standing leg. If you're sitting with my mom, you're just bringing that foot out and in, okay? Just like that, okay? So if you wanna think about bringing your knees together, that's a good way to ensure that you're really working the hip instead of just the knee, okay? All right? So yeah, you notice, I mean, even that's a modification if you're standing, you know, to do it like this. But I'm just gonna do a leg lift here, okay? Good job. Okay. And we're gonna switch legs now. Okay, switch legs. Good, yeah, bring that whole, bring your knees together, good. Nice. Breathe it out. Feel that hip move. Now, so important for lateral movement, everybody, okay? So whether you're, you know, walking side to side, or, you know, if you're walking and you trip, stabilizing these hip muscles can help you prevent falls, okay? So very nice. Take a rest. Good work on the hips. Okay, our next move is our favorite chair stand up or the squat. So- Or toilet move. Okay, toilet move. So feet hip distance apart. You can have your arms in chest, right? And if you're squatting with me, you go down and then you go up, okay? So up, here you go, and down. Now, can't do this move. Just give me some leg extensions in the chair, like this. Okay? You can alternate sides, okay? Now, that will be more focused on your front thighs, but just as important to help you stay mobile and be able to walk, okay? Strengthen that lower body. This is all about strengthening the lower body to be able to walk, get off the toilet or chair. Okay, right? And you can even pick up weights if you wanted to further challenge yourself. Okay, like that. It's all about sitting that butt back. Just like you're sitting in chair and up. Good. Breathe. Keep the back straight and rest. Really nice, everybody. Okay, hold on. Keep holding onto these weights. Even just holding onto weights is a workout. Yeah. Okay, so. Gotta build muscle. That's right, our next move, we're gonna be doing rows, everyone. Feet hip distance apart. Slight hinge in the hips, back straight. And you can either bring your shoulder blades together, pulling both up, or you can alternate, okay? Whatever is easiest for you, okay? So listen to your body. Remember, this is shoulder blades together, not just arms, okay? So we're really working the upper back, the shoulders, and the arms, okay? Yep, I can feel it. This is a pulling motion. Yeah. So think about like you're carrying your groceries, you're actually picking something up off the floor. Yeah. You're doing tug of war with your fur babies, right? That's a pulling motion. Right. Okay, so important. Breathe it out. Good job. Ooh, I feel a burn. Okay, and rest. Nice work. Okay, good job. Okay, I'm gonna actually put the heavier weights down, this one, pick up the lighter ones for our next move. Which is, we did pulling, now we're going to be doing a pushing move, right? Okay, so feet hip distance apart, we're doing a bicep curl, and we're gonna press up, okay? Back down, or bicep curl, press out. I'm not using any weights. Good, that's great. I love that you're modeling that, okay? That's great. Especially with that overhead move, sometimes those shoulders, right? Yeah. Very delicate things. Okay, not a problem. Good. Well, I'm glad you said that, because that's what I'm doing. Good job, good job. And you can even use one weight on this one if you wanted to, okay? Yeah. All right, but anyway, this is great, again, for pushing things, right? Oh, yeah, yeah. What do you push? Your cart. Push your cart. Door. Lawnmower. Oh, a lawnmower, wow. That's a good one, right? Yeah. Remember those manual lawnmowers? Oh, yeah. With the little rotary things? Oh, my gosh. I remember that when we were kids. You do, huh? Yeah, I did that, okay? I do remember that. Okay, very nice, everybody. Hey, we're going to our last move. Okay, last move is a rotational move. We're going to do that woodchop, okay? Got one weight, shoulder to hip. Now, this motion, very important to be able to turn, right? Rotate, okay? So, you're looking behind you, right? Good for balance, right? Balance, absolutely, and this is a core move, so it's good for any motion that you do, whether it's walking, reaching, turning around, looking behind you. Okay, we're switching sides. Shoulder, hip, good. Oh, yes. Breathe it out. Keep it going. Are you feeling the burn? Hell, yeah. Don't forget to breathe. Keep it going. You're looking great. I have to imagine, at my age, I have to do weightlifting. Oh my gosh, really? Yeah, at any age, it's so important to be able to put the weight down. Building muscle is so important at any age, everybody, so good job. All right, let's cool it down. After that move, let's do some open close. Cool it down. Nice, quick, efficient, and effective workout. Great job. Got five minutes, 10 minutes. That's right. These are five of the best exercises to do to stay strong and mobile and independent. Good job, okay? And up. Good work. Give me the shoulder rolls back. Two, three, good, and four. And reverse. Two, three, and four. Very good. Give me a nice hamstring stretch. Stretch the legs out a little bit. Good job. Toe up to the ceiling. Legs straight, good. Okay, let's switch. Feel good? Nice work. Okay, good job. All right. Excellent work, everyone. Now, this workout can be done two or three times a week. This is a strength workout, so allow at least a day of rest in between. Let your muscles recover. And if you wanted to increase the challenge, this is one set, so aim for two to three sets, and that will really help you build muscle, okay? You can also increase tempo and or increase weight for additional challenge. All right, so thank you so much for joining us. You did a great job on building muscle, and we're so proud of you. If you like this video, please give it a like, share, comment, let us know what you thought, and subscribe to our channel. It is always a joy to help you get stronger. So, look forward to seeing you soon, and in the meantime. Keep moving. See you soon.