[[{“value”:”Plenty of men over 65 fall into one of two camps: they’ve let activity slide since retiring, or they do nothing all week and then tackle the yard or a long bike ride far too hard. A heart that’s worked moderately every day copes far better than one that rests all week and then gets pushed hard. That daily work doesn’t need a gym.
I’ve been a personal trainer for nearly 40 years, and I’ve been director of TRAINFITNESS, the UK’s leading provider of personal training courses. These are the five exercises I use most with men in this age group. Together they cover your daily heart work and your strength work, and you can do all of them without a gym.
Brisk Walk With Pace Pick-Ups
Walking is the foundation of heart health and the easiest daily habit to keep. Adding short, faster spells works the heart harder than a steady stroll does, and you never have to run.
How to Do It:
Walk at an easy pace for 5 minutes to warm up.
Walk briskly, swinging your arms, at a pace where you can talk but not sing.
Every few minutes, pick up the pace for about a minute, between two streetlights or to the end of the block, until you can only manage a few words.
Ease back to your brisk pace and let your breathing settle.
Finish with a few minutes at an easy pace.
Avoid These Mistakes:
Don’t stroll at window-shopping pace and count it as exercise. This is the mistake I see most.
Don’t set off flat out either. That’s the other extreme.
Sets and Reps: Keep the whole walk to 20 to 30 minutes.
Form Tip: Use the talk test as you go. If you could sing your way around the park, you aren’t walking briskly. If you can’t get a sentence out, you’ve gone too hard.
RELATED: 4 Home Exercises That Firm Upper Arms Faster Than Gym Classes After 60
Stair Repeats at Home
Climbing stairs lifts your whole body weight, so it trains the heart and the big leg muscles together in a short time. Most homes have a staircase, which makes this easy to fit in every day.
How to Do It:
Hold the banister throughout.
Walk up at a steady pace, placing your whole foot on each step.
Walk down slowly and carefully.
Rest at the bottom for 30 to 60 seconds.
Keep the rest gentle: an easy walk around the hallway rather than standing still.
Avoid These Mistakes:
Don’t rush the stairs to get it over with. Go up at a steady pace and keep it controlled coming down.
Don’t stop dead at the top, gripping the banister and breathing hard. Keep moving gently between climbs.
Sets and Reps: Start with 3 to 5 climbs and build up to 8 to 10 over a few weeks.
Form Tip: Place your whole foot on each step on the way up.
Goblet Squat to a Chair
This is strength work for the biggest muscles in the body, the thighs and glutes. Stronger legs make every walk and every climb easier for the heart.
How to Do It:
Stand in front of a sturdy chair with your feet a little wider than hip-width.
Hold a heavy object close to your chest with both hands: a 5- to 10-pound bag of potatoes, a filled water bottle, or a dumbbell.
Push your hips back and bend your knees to lower yourself until you lightly touch the seat.
Push through your heels to stand back up.
Breathe out as you stand.
Avoid These Mistakes:
Don’t hold your breath on the way up. It pushes your blood pressure up sharply for those few seconds, and that’s the one I watch for with anyone on blood pressure medication.
Don’t drop onto the seat and bounce back up. Touch it lightly.
Sets and Reps: 2 to 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps, resting a minute between sets.
Form Tip: Breathe out as you stand.
RELATED: 5 Exercises That Undo 10 Years of Skipped Workouts Faster Than Walking After 55
Shadow Boxing
Shadow boxing gets the heart rate up using the arms, shoulders, and trunk as well as the legs, so it’s handy on a wet day or for anyone whose knees don’t take kindly to long walks. It’s also easy to adjust: quicker punches and more turn through the body make it harder, while slower punches and more marching make it easier.
How to Do It:
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, one foot slightly forward, knees soft.
Hold your hands up in loose fists by your chin.
Punch straight out with alternate hands, turning your shoulders and hips slightly into each punch.
Bring each hand straight back to your chin.
Keep your feet moving lightly, shifting your weight from foot to foot.
Punch for 1 minute, then march in place for 30 seconds.
Avoid These Mistakes:
Don’t lock your elbows and snap your arm straight. It jars the joint.
Don’t hold your breath while you punch. Breathe out on each one.
Sets and Reps: 5 to 6 rounds.
Form Tip: Keep a slight bend in your elbow at the end of each punch.
Cycling
Cycling works the heart and the legs with almost no impact on the knees and hips, so it’s comfortable to keep going for 20 to 30 minutes. You can ride outdoors or use an exercise bike, which works in any weather.
How to Do It:
Set the seat so your knee is just slightly bent at the bottom of the pedal stroke.
Warm up at an easy pace for 5 minutes.
Pedal at a moderate effort, where you can talk but not sing, for 15 to 20 minutes.
Add a few 1-minute harder spells if you feel good.
Cool down with 3 to 5 minutes at an easy pace.
Avoid These Mistakes:
Don’t set the seat too low. It strains the knees.
Don’t push a heavy gear at a slow pedaling speed, which does the same. Use a lighter gear at a quicker, steady pace. It’s kinder on the knees and better for the heart.
Sets and Reps: 15 to 20 minutes at moderate effort, plus warm-up and cool-down.
Form Tip: Check that your knee is just slightly bent at the bottom of the pedal stroke.
RELATED: The 12-Minute Morning Routine That Builds More Strength Than an Hour at the Gym After 60
How Often to Do This
Aim for 20 to 30 minutes of heart work every day, and alternate the walk, the bike, and the shadow boxing across the week so the main session changes. Five or six rounds of shadow boxing only comes to about 10 minutes, so on a shadow boxing day, go through the sequence twice.
Then add the strength side, stair repeats and goblet squats, on at least two or three days a week. Together they take about 10 minutes. A sample week might look like this:
Monday: Brisk walk with pick-ups, plus goblet squats
Tuesday: Bike, outdoors or an exercise bike
Wednesday: Brisk walk, plus stair repeats
Thursday: Shadow boxing, plus goblet squats
Friday: Brisk walk
Saturday: Bike or a longer walk, plus stair repeats
Sunday: Shadow boxing or an easy walk
Warm up and cool down every single time. Never go from sitting to flat out, especially first thing in the morning or in cold weather.
Build up gradually over the first two or three weeks. If a 20-minute walk leaves you tired for the next two days, start with 10 minutes and add a little each week.
Why Daily Exercise Matters
The heart is a muscle, and it responds to regular, moderate effort like any other muscle. With daily exercise, it pumps more blood with each beat, so it needs fewer beats to do the same job, and your resting heart rate tends to fall. Daily exercise also keeps the blood vessels more flexible, and it helps with blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, and weight.
Strength work matters too. Muscle drops away after 65 unless you use it, and weak legs make everyday jobs more of an effort for the heart. Two or three short strength sessions a week keep the legs doing their share.
US guidance is around 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, which works out to roughly 20 to 25 minutes a day, plus strength work on at least two days. Doing it daily spreads the load through the week and turns it into a habit, which is why I’d rather a man did 20 minutes every day than an hour twice a week.
By moderate, I mean the talk test: you can hold a conversation, but you can’t sing. Harder efforts leave you down to a few words at a time. If you’re on beta blockers, remember they keep your heart rate down, so the number on a watch won’t tell you how hard you’re actually working. Use the talk test instead.
RELATED: 5 Bodyweight Exercises That Shrink Belly Fat Faster Than Crunches After 60
Common Heart Problems After 65
High blood pressure and high cholesterol come up more than anything else, and most of the men I see are on medication for one or both. Extra weight around the middle usually goes with them, and a fair number have type 2 diabetes as well. Some have had a heart attack, stents, or a bypass, and a smaller number have atrial fibrillation.
The habits worry me as much as the diagnoses. Activity often drops right off after retirement, and plenty of men put off seeing their doctor or brush off warning signs they’d have acted on years ago.
The “weekend warrior” pattern is the one that causes trouble: nothing all week, then hours of digging, heavy lifting, or a long bike ride, with nothing in between. Problems often show up during those sudden efforts.
Check With Your Doctor First
If you have a heart condition, you’ve had a recent heart event, or you haven’t exercised in years, see your doctor first. If you’ve had a heart event, ask about a cardiac rehab program.
Stop and get help if you get:
Chest pain or tightness
Pain spreading to the arm, jaw, or neck
Unusual breathlessness
Dizziness or palpitations
Chest pain that doesn’t settle with rest means calling 911.
RELATED: If You Can Hold a Bridge This Long After 65, Your Core Strength Is Stronger Than 90% of Peers
What to Expect
Within two to three weeks, you’ll feel the difference in everyday things. Stairs and hills take less out of you, and your breathing settles faster after anything strenuous.
By six to eight weeks, your resting heart rate is often a little lower, and your blood pressure readings may start to come down. Plenty of men tell me they have more energy through the afternoon by then as well.
After three months and beyond, you’re fitter, your legs are stronger, and weight and blood sugar are often better too. How far you get depends on where you started, the medication you’re on, your diet, and whether you smoke.
Exercise works alongside your medication and your checkups, not instead of them. Keep your doctor’s appointments, keep up the blood pressure checks, and take your home readings along. A run of lower readings after a couple of months of daily walking gives your doctor a much clearer picture than a single reading in the office.
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