5 Standing Exercises That Restore Hip Strength This Week, No Gym Needed After 60

By Alexa Mellardo

July 10, 2026

If you make building hip strength and stability a priority at the gym, there’s a good chance your exercise routine may consist of hip extensions, hip thrusts, split squats, and deadlifts. But we can simplify your regimen with five standing exercises that will restore hip strength after 60 this week.

“Hips fade with age even in active people because of one sneaky thing: sitting. All that sitting basically switches the glutes off, what trainers call glute amnesia. And here’s the kicker, walking or light cardio doesn’t fix it, because those don’t work the hips side to side or under any real load. So, you can be someone who walks every single day and still have weak, sleepy glutes. You have to actually train the hips on purpose, in every direction, or they keep slipping,” explains Jacob Siwicki, founder and head coach of Siwicki Fitness, NCSF and AFAA certified, former top 1% globally ranked Equinox group fitness instructor (2019), Dartmouth economics graduate and former Dartmouth football player, fitness expert on FOX 5 DC, ranked #1 personal trainer in D.C. in 2021.

Below, experts share five standing exercises that can help restore hip strength—no gym required.

Standing Hip Abductions

6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

According to Marshall Weber, Certified Personal Trainer and Founder of Functional Idaho Gym, who has an educational background in Exercise Science and Psychology, this exercise helps strengthen the muscles that keep you balanced when you’re walking or standing on one leg.

1. Begin by standing tall with your feet hip-width apart and hands on your hips.
2. Activate your core and shift your weight onto your left leg.
3. Keep your right leg straight and toes pointed forward as you lift it out to the side as high as you’re comfortably able to.
4. Hold at the top for a moment before slowly lowering.

Sit-to-Stands

“Sit-to-stands are one of the best exercises to maintain independence because getting out of a chair comfortably is something people do every day,” Weber tells us.

1. Begin by standing tall in front of a sturdy chair with your feet hip-width apart on the ground.
2. Activate your core and keep your chest lifted.
3. Bend at the knees and hips and lower slowly into a squat—as if you’re about to sit down. Make sure your weight stays in your heels.
4. Lightly touch the surface of the chair with your glutes.
5. Press through your heels to rise back up.

Single-Leg Balance

This exercise helps you build coordination and stability while strengthening the hips, Weber points out.

1. Balance on one leg, barefoot, on a flat, solid surface without using additional support.
2. Keep your gaze forward and your arms crossed. The lifted leg should not touch your grounded leg.
3. The time begins once your leg comes off the floor and stops when your foot touches the ground.
4. Hold for the prescribed amount of time on each side.

Lateral Band Walk

“Lateral band walks hit the side-glute that almost everybody is weak in,” Siwicki says.

1. Begin by placing a resistance band around your ankles or thighs.
2. Slightly bend your knees and step sideways, keeping your movement controlled.
3. Repeat in the opposite direction.

Reverse Lunges

“Reverse lunges build the front and the power you use on stairs,” Siwicki says.

1. To begin, stand with your feet hip-distance apart and arms at your sides. Maintain a tall chest.
2. Step your left foot back a few feet, making sure to land on the ball of your foot.
3. Lower into a lunge position until your front thigh is parallel to the ground and your back knee hovers just above the floor.
4. Press through your front heel to rise back up to standing.