5 Best Daily Exercises Everyone Over 50 Should Try
Getting up from a low chair shouldn’t feel like a challenge. Neither should carrying groceries or reaching for something on a high shelf. But if you’ve noticed these everyday movements getting harder, you’re not alone. The biggest challenge isn’t your ability: it’s simply not knowing where to start or which exercises will actually help. Here’s the thing: once you understand why certain movements matter and how to do them correctly, staying consistent becomes so much easier. Read on to discover the essential exercises that will help you maintain your strength, balance, and ability to do everyday tasks with confidence.
Standing Heel Raises
Standing with your feet about shoulder width apart and holding on to something for support, rise up onto your toes as far as you can and slowly lower back down to the floor. This is an important exercise to maintain calf strength which is your main source of power while walking.
How to progress: To make it harder, don’t hold onto anything for support and if you still need to make it harder you can do it on just one leg at a time.
Common mistake: The biggest mistake people make is not keeping their knees locked in a straight position.
Squats
Standing with your feet about shoulder width apart, keep your weight mainly in your heels as you sit your hip back until you reach a parallel position. This is an essential skill to maintain later in life to do simple things like rise up from a low chair.
How to progress: To make it harder simply add some weights in your hands and try to get deeper into the squat.
Common mistake: The biggest mistake people make is allowing their weight to shift to their toes and allowing their knees to come too far forward.
Reverse Lunges
Standing with your feet next to each other, send one leg back behind you and keep your weight all on your front foot and towards the heel, there should be no weight on the back leg. Touch the back toe behind you until you are in a full lunge and then use your front leg to get back into the starting position. This builds strength to help maintain the skill of getting up off of the ground.
Common mistake: The main mistake people make is putting too much weight on the back leg.
Push-ups
Standing up and facing a wall place your hands on the wall in front of you. Bring your chest to the wall while keeping your elbows close to your torso and then push yourself back to the starting position. To make it harder you can try kneeling push ups and finally work up to the point where you can do full push ups. This maintains your ability to handle your own bodyweight with your arms and again is important to get yourself up off of the ground.
Common mistake: The main mistake people make is allowing their elbows to drift too far away from their torso which can put a lot of stress through the shoulders.
Overhead Reach
Standing up, simply raise your arms up over your head as far as you can. As we age, we rarely raise our arms up over our head and it can lead to tightness and deficits in that direction.
How to progress: To make it more difficult just add weight in your hands.
Common mistake: The main mistake people make is shrugging up with their shoulders and overworking the upper traps so try to raise your arms while keeping the shoulders pulled down as best as you can.
How To Fit These Into Your Routine And When You’ll Notice Changes
It’s best to do these exercises as a full workout, all at once, every other day.
Most people will notice results in 2-4 weeks. It may start off as soreness but as time passes you will notice that you have an easier time doing the exercises and can progress to more difficult variations. As that happens, you will notice a difference just in your daily life.
The secret to staying consistent
It’s best to put it on your calendar and hold yourself accountable. When it comes to starting a new workout routine you can’t rely on motivation, you can only rely on discipline. You have to stay regimented and disciplined until you get to the point where it feels like a habit.
Dr. Dan Ginader, DPT, is a physical therapist at Mims Method PT in New York City and author of The Pain-Free Body. He earned his doctorate from the University of Buffalo and shares practical fitness advice on Instagram and TikTok. Learn more at thepainfreebodybook.info.
