After 70 your legs often feel older than the rest of you, and you notice it in small ways first. You push off the armrests to stand, lead with the good leg on the stairs, grab furniture to bend down and shuffle where you used to easily move. Those signs show up before a few simple strength tests confirm your strength loss. I’ve coached adults over 70 for years, and the clients who still rise, climb, bend and stride easily are the ones who kept adding weight.
Legs keep aging no matter what you do. Strong and weak legs lose ground at about the same pace over time, so the stronger pair stays ahead. A quick wall sit test after 70 shows where your legs sit on that slide right now. Easy routines that never get harder keep you moving, but they don’t move the needle in the right direction.
Loaded training does move the needle. In one study, with a year of heavy gym training around retirement age, leg strength held steady four years later, while people who trained more moderately or not at all lost some. Keep training, because strength you stop asking for fades.
The five exercises below will keep you strong. Keep a chair, a rail or a counter within reach every time. Start light and lower with control. Grab a dumbbell and start with the chair.
Goblet Box Squat
Pushing off the armrests to stand trains your quads and glutes to lower and lift you under load. I use a real chair because it’s the seat you rise from all day.
Set a sturdy chair against a wall and hold one light dumbbell at your chest. Sit back for a slow three-count until you lightly touch the seat. Drive through your heels and stand without using your hands. The armrests stop being part of the trip. To make it harder, use a heavier dumbbell first. Then move to a slightly lower seat with the same slow descent.
How to Do It
- Set a sturdy chair against a wall
- Hold one dumbbell at your chest
- Sit back for a three-count
- Touch the seat lightly
- Stand without using your hands
- Do 2–3 sets of 8–10 reps.
RELATED: 5 Morning Exercises Men Over 60 Need to Keep Their Back Strong
Dumbbell Sumo Deadlift
This hinge movement will help you bend down without needing to grab furniture.
Stand wide, toes turned out, with a light dumbbell hanging between your feet and a counter beside you. The key involves pushing your hips back and lowering to about mid-shin, never the floor. Keep your spine straight. Drive your hips forward to stand. To make it harder, move to a heavier dumbbell first. Later, lower it a little farther while keeping it off the floor.
How to Do It
- Stand wide, toes out, beside a counter
- Hold the dumbbell between your feet
- Push your hips back to mid-shin
- Drive your hips forward
- Do 2–3 sets of 8–10 reps.
Dumbbell Lateral Step-Up
This trains the side of your hip to keep your pelvis level on one leg. I like the sideways step because momentum can’t help you here.
Stand sideways to the bottom stair, near hand on the rail and a light dumbbell in the outside hand. Step up, stand tall and lower yourself slowly. Keep your hips level without pushing off the rail. To make it harder, take longer on the way down first. When a slow lowering feels easy, pick up a heavier dumbbell.
How to Do It
- Stand sideways to the bottom stair
- Hold the rail with your near hand
- Hold a dumbbell in the outside hand
- Step up and lower slowly
- Do 2–3 sets of 6–8 reps per side.
RELATED: 4 Standing Exercises That Build a 6-Pack Without a Single Sit-Up After 70
Supported Suitcase Step-Up
This step-up trains both legs to stay strong, so you don’t have to lead with the one good leg on stairs. The lateral step-up moved sideways to train the side of the hip. This exercise steps straight forward with the dumbbell on one side, and your trunk and hip resist the lean. I save it for fourth because uneven load demands control.
Face the bottom stair with a full grip on the rail in one hand and a light dumbbell in the other. Step up with your weaker leg first, stand tall without leaning and lower slowly. To make it harder, loosen your hold on the rail from a full hand to fingertips. Then move to a heavier dumbbell. Do both sides.
How to Do It
- Face the stair, full grip on the rail
- Hold a dumbbell in the other hand
- Step up with your weaker leg
- Stand tall without leaning
- Do 2–3 sets of 6–8 reps per side.
RELATED: 4 Daily Exercises That Shrink Your Waistline Faster Than Walking After 65
Tiptoe Farmer’s Walk
This final movement is the hardest of the five in terms of balance. I put it last because it pulls the other four together.
Hold a light dumbbell in each hand and rise onto the balls of your feet. Walk a short way beside a counter or wall close enough to touch. If your heels drop or you wobble, stop, lower your heels and set the weights down. The shuffle gives way to a real push-off. To make it harder, add a few steps before you move to heavier dumbbells, with the counter still within reach.
How to Do It
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand
- Rise onto the balls of your feet
- Walk slowly beside a counter
- Lower your heels if you wobble
- Rest on flat feet between passes
- Do 2–3 passes of 10–15 steps.
The post 5 Exercises That Make Your Legs 10 Years Younger After 70 appeared first on Eat This Not That.
