Revitalize Your Hips: 5 Effective Standing Exercises for Strength Without the Gym at 60+

Keeping your hips strong and efficient mandates intentional and active training.

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If boosting hip stability and strength is at the top of your workout priorities, your gym sessions might typically include hip extensions, hip thrusts, split squats, and deadlifts. However, to streamline your routine, consider incorporating five standing exercises designed to rebuild hip strength effectively, especially if you’re over 60.

“As we age, our hips tend to weaken, often due to prolonged sitting. This habit leads to ‘glute amnesia,’ where the glutes essentially shut down,” explains Jacob Siwicki, founder and lead trainer at Siwicki Fitness, with certifications from NCSF and AFAA. A renowned personal trainer ranked #1 in D.C. in 2021, and a former top-performing Equinox group instructor, Siwicki warns that casual walking or light cardio isn’t enough to combat this issue, as they don’t challenge the hips laterally or under significant strain. Hence, despite daily walks, one’s glutes can remain underworked without focused training in all directions.

In the following sections, fitness experts introduce five standing exercises that can enhance hip strength—all from the comfort of your home, gym-free.

Standing Hip Abductions

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.

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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.

5 Standing Exercises That Restore Hip Strength Faster Than Floor Stretches After 55

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.

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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.