Transform your fitness routine with this swift workout designed to both rebuild and sustain muscle health. It’s a real game-changer.
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It’s astonishing to note that fewer than 15% of older adults engage in strength training twice a week, despite it being crucial for maintaining health as we age. Muscle loss is a natural part of growing older, just when maintaining strength becomes vital. Understandably, life’s demands often sideline fitness efforts. To address this, we turned to Domenic Angelino, MS, MPH, CSCS, CPT, the Chief Exercise Scientist at FitCraft. He crafted a quick six-minute morning routine aimed at swiftly restoring muscle more effectively than conventional weight training for those over 60.
Standing Toe Touches
“Engaging in a dynamic warm-up prior to exercise enhances your safe range of motion during the workout, especially in resistance training,” explains Angelino. “Standing toe touches are particularly beneficial for improving hamstring flexibility, which tends to diminish significantly by the age of 60. Increased flexibility in your hamstrings decreases the likelihood of injuries.”
Overhead Arm Swings
“This is an easy dynamic stretch that can help you improve your overhead mobility. This directly prepares you for one of the exercises you’ll be doing in this workout, the overhead press,” Angelino points out.
- Stand tall with your feet hip-distance apart and knees slightly relaxed.
- Lift both arms overhead, making sure your shoulders are relaxed.
- Then, swing your arms forward and slightly back with control.
- Continue this swinging movement.
- Perform 1 set of 15 seconds, resting for 5 seconds.
Cross-Body Arm Swings
“This dynamic stretch can be helpful if you’re dealing with rounded shoulders, something that is pretty common in people over the age of 60,” Angelino notes.
- Stand tall with your feet hip-distance apart and arms at your sides.
- Start to gently swing both arms across the front of your body, alternating which arm crosses on top.
- Make sure your arms swing out to the sides before crossing them again.
- Perform 1 set of 15 seconds, resting for 5 seconds.
Bodyweight Squats
“Squats are a simple and effective way to train your most important lower body muscles all at the same time,” Angelino explains. “Having [this exercise] as a cornerstone of your quick routine can provide you with a lot of flexibility in the future to adapt to your changing exercise needs.”
- Stand tall with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Extend your arms ahead of you or place your hands on your hips.
- Bend at the knees and hips as you lower into a squat.
- Descend until your thighs are parallel to the floor.
- Press through your heels to rise back up to standing.
- Perform 2 sets of 30 seconds, resting for 20 seconds between sets.
“Overhead pressing lets you directly train the muscles that enable you to lift your arms overhead—specifically targeting muscles that don’t get organically used enough in most people’s daily life to actually maintain their strength,” Angelino says.
- Stand tall, holding a dumbbell in each hand at shoulder level, palms facing inward.
- Press the weights overhead, extending your arms.
- Use control as you lower the weights to shoulder height.
- Perform 2 sets of 30 seconds, resting for 20 seconds between sets.
Dumbbell Curls
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DeLZ6cbgWQ[/embed]
“Since you’ve just made it through a workout with multiple compound movements, it can be helpful to finish off with an easier exercise that involves you focusing on just one muscle group and one joint: your biceps and your elbow. The biceps are muscles that aren’t involved in other resistance training exercises you’re already performing today, so the exercise helps fill in that important blank,” Angelino explains.
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand at your sides with a supinated grip.
- Bend your elbows to curl the weights up toward your shoulders.
- Squeeze your biceps at the top.
- Use control to lower.
- Perform 2 sets of 30 seconds, resting for 20 seconds between sets.