[[{“value”:”Muscle declines even faster after 65. Arms and legs look thinner, grip strength fades, and getting up from a low couch requires a push with your hands. But you can fight against this decline if you start giving your muscles a reason to grow. I’ve coached adults over 65 for years, and every program I use starts with a focus on increasing muscle mass. Pair this routine with the daily habits that help you rebuild muscle: proper sleep, nutrition, and stress management.
Most people hear the words “strength training” and picture a gym. Then they think of the drive, weird sweaty machines, and a crowd half their age. A supervised gym program is genuinely excellent, but only if you’ll actually show up. That’s why a chair routine at home beats the gym for anyone who keeps skipping workouts. A home routine is the workout you’ll actually finish.
I like using chair exercises, because they give you the option of doing unrestricted multi-joint exercises and you can use the support of the chair to make the exercises safer and more manageable. The six exercises below require nothing more than a sturdy chair and dumbbells. Do 2–3 sets of each movement, with a tempo of one second up, and three seconds down on each. When a set stops feeling hard, add reps or grab a heavier dumbbell. Start with 6-8 reps and increase that number over time. Once you get to 15 reps, you need to increase the weight. If you progress slowly, but consistently, over weeks and months the muscle can come back.
Chair Push-Up
The chair push-up builds the chest, shoulders and triceps. These same muscles push off the floor and help you push open a heavy door.
Place the chair against a wall or stable object. We don’t want it to slide once you place your weight on it. Put your hands flat on the seat and walk your feet back until you’re in a plank position. Lower until your chest touches the chair and drive back up. Stop before your hips start sagging. If the set becomes too easy, move your hands from the chair seat to a lower chair or step. You can also increase the difficulty by walking back or forward a few steps.
How to Do It
Brace the chair against a wall
Place hands on the seat
Step back into a straight plank
Lower until chest toucher chair
Press back up with control
Stop one or two reps short of failure.
RELATED: 5 Standing Exercises That Firm Sagging Arms Faster Than Gym Classes After 60
Seated Bent-Over Dumbbell Row
The bent-over row trains your upper back, the muscles that keep you upright and help you pull a heavy object towards you. Sitting on a chair edge removes the momentum from your lower body so your back does all the pulling itself.
Lower your torso toward your thighs with the dumbbells beside your feet. Pull your elbows back toward your hips and squeeze your shoulder blades together. Finish the set when one or two reps are left before your torso starts to rise and form degrades.
How to Do It
Sit at the edge of the chair
Hinge forward with a flat back
Hold dumbbells beside your feet
Pull your elbows back toward your hips
Squeeze shoulder blades together
Lower with control.
Seated Zottman Curl
The Zottman curl strengthens the biceps and the forearms at the same time. I like this curl for grip as well because the palms-down lowering motion makes the forearm do the heavy work. Curl the dumbbells with your palms facing up. At the top, turn your palms down and lower for three to four seconds.
How to Do It
Sit tall with dumbbells at sides
Curl up with palms facing up
Turn palms down at the top
Lower slowly for 3–4 seconds
Turn palms up at the bottom
Stop one or two reps short of failure.
RELATED: 5 Home Exercises That Firm Belly Overhang Faster Than Gym Workouts After 55
Seated Overhead Dumbbell Triceps Extension
This movement builds the back of the upper arm. The triceps muscles help push you out of a chair and hold an object overhead. Performing this exercise seated removes balance from the equation, so your triceps can work all the way to the last hard rep.
Hold one dumbbell overhead with both hands. You can also use two weights, but I prefer one with most clients. Lower it behind your head until you feel a deep stretch, keeping your elbows pointed up. Press back to the top. End the set one or two reps before your elbows begin to flare out. The stretch at the bottom is what builds the arm.
How to Do It
Sit tall with feet flat
Hold one dumbbell overhead
Point elbows toward the ceiling
Lower behind your head slowly
Press back to the top
Keep elbows narrow.
Chair-Supported Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift
The chair-supported single-leg Romanian deadlift trains the hamstrings and glutes. You use these muscles when you bend and pick something up off the ground. I typically ask older clients to keep one hand on the chair because it lets them perfect their form without worrying about balance. That stretch under load builds muscle.
Hold a dumbbell in your free hand. Push your hips back and raise your back off the ground. Lower until your hamstring stretches, then drive your hips forward to stand. Keep one or two reps in reserve and stop before your back starts to round. With this exercise, the mind-muscle connection is incredibly important; try to feel that stretch in your hamstring as your hips move back.
How to Do It
Hold the chair back with one hand
Take a dumbbell in the other
Push hips back as one leg lifts
Lower until hamstrings stretch
Drive hips forward to stand
Switch sides and repeat.
RELATED: 4 Standing Exercises That Rebuild Calf Strength Faster Than Treadmills After 65
Chair-Supported Split Squat
This final movement trains the quads and glutes, the biggest muscles in your legs. These leg muscles carry you up stairs and help you sit and stand. The deadlift exercise is about hinging at the hips. This exercise is about the hips moving back and down as you bend the knee and put the front thigh under load. Slow, progressive bodyweight squatting increases thigh muscle even in adults over 70, so start with just bodyweight. Once you can perform 12-15 quality reps, you can stop using the chair, and then eventually add a dumbbell if you need to.
Stand in a split stance with one hand on the chair. Lower your back knee toward the floor, then drive through the front heel to stand. The set ends one or two reps before you lose proper form.
How to Do It
Stand beside the chair, one hand on it
Hold a dumbbell in your free hand
Step into a split stance
Lower back knee toward the floor
Drive through the front heel
Switch legs and repeat.
The post 6 Chair Exercises That Regain Muscle Mass Better Than Gym Workouts After 65 appeared first on Eat This Not That.”}]]