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Challenge your core strength after 60 with four straightforward exercises. Get expert insights and give them a try today.
Ever wondered about the condition of your core, especially if you’re over 60? Cassondra Housek, a seasoned Certified Personal Trainer and Pilates Instructor at Life Time River North in Chicago, suggests a few exercises to help assess and enhance your core strength. She notes, “These exercises not only target your core but also emphasize full-body functionality. They bolster balance and grip strength while also enhancing your ability to move from the floor with ease.” Housek assures that these exercises can be adjusted to fit any fitness level, and most require no equipment, making them highly accessible.
The first exercise Housek recommends is the loaded carry. “Loaded carries are incredibly beneficial for older adults. They enhance real-world strength, like when you’re carrying groceries or luggage, and improve posture and balance. Additionally, they’re excellent for building grip strength, which is crucial for neuromuscular health,” she explains.
Loaded Carries
Loaded carries are the first move that Housek recommends. “Carries are one of the best exercises that you can do as an aging individual. They build real-world strength (think about carrying groceries or luggage), help improve posture and balance, and are fantastic for building grip strength (which is tied to neuromuscular function),” she explains.
How to do it:
- Stand tall holding a weight in one hand
- Keep shoulders level and core tight
- Walk 20-30 steps without leaning
- Switch hands and repeat.
Bird Dogs
Bird dogs are the next exercise. “Bird Dogs are easily accessible, and will encourage you to kneel down and get back up from the floor. They build core strength, contralateral stability (which helps with balance and coordination), and activate muscles all along the core, including the abdominals, back, and glute muscles,” Housek says.
How to do it:
- Start on all fours, wrists under shoulders, knees under hips
- Extend right arm forward and left leg back simultaneously
- Hold 2-3 seconds with back flat
- Return to start and switch sides.
Dead Bugs
Dead bugs are another important move. “Perhaps the most accessible exercise of them all, these are done while lying in a supine position. Your back is fully supported, so Dead Bugs are a wonderful option to help relieve back pain while working the upper and lower abdominals, improving pelvic stability, and they also help to reinforce cross-body coordination,” she says.
How to do it:
- Lie on back with arms up and knees bent at 90 degrees
- Lower right arm overhead while extending left leg toward floor
- Press lower back into floor throughout
- Return to start and switch sides.
Glute Bridges
Glute bridges are the fourth move Housek recommends. “Let’s not forget that the glutes are an integral part of your core. Performing Glute Bridges is a safe, supported way to target the glutes, while continuing to work the abdominals, and promote better posture,” she says.
How to do it:
- Lie on back with knees bent, feet flat and hip-width apart
- Push through heels to lift hips
- Form straight line from shoulders to knees
- Squeeze glutes at top, hold 2 seconds, lower slowly.
Honorable Mention: Planks
And, an honorable mention: Planks. “You may be wondering why Planks are not in my top 4 because they are such a quintessential core exercise. The truth is that while Planks are great, they do require a lot of strength to do correctly (especially in the arms and shoulders), they don’t mimic functional movement as much as the other exercises, and they are incredibly easy to do incorrectly without proper guidance,” Housek explains. “My recommendation would be to spend more time mastering and progressing the 4 exercises above, and add planking in later.”
How to do it:
- Start on forearms and toes, elbows under shoulders
- Keep body in straight line from head to heels
- Hold 10-30 seconds while breathing steadily
- Modify by dropping to knees if needed.
Why Core Strength Is Important As You Age
Why is core strength so important for active agers? “The core is one of the most important things that you can strengthen in your body because it is the foundation of all movement. Your core supports, stabilizes, and protects your spine, making it a vital muscle group for remaining active, strong, and independent for everyday living,” Kousek says. “Age-related muscle loss (known as sarcopenia) typically begins around the ages of 30-35, with a gradual decline of 1-2% muscle loss per year. By the ages of 60-65, that rate accelerates to roughly 3% per year. If you are not consistently strengthening your core, this muscle loss can lead to a weak, unstable spine, which in turn often results in back pain, decreased spinal flexibility, poor posture, and poor balance. Keeping up with core exercises in your routine will help combat this loss of muscle and strength.”