Assessing your leg strength after the age of 60 can be as simple as trying a few chair-based exercises. These moves are more telling of your physical fitness than many traditional gym workouts. Having spent over 35 years as a personal trainer and educating upcoming trainers for the past two decades, I emphasize that you don’t need a luxurious gym to enhance your fitness. A basic chair can be a powerful tool in evaluating and improving your leg strength. Here are three crucial exercises that can help you gauge your leg strength and offer insight into any improvements needed.

For those over 60, chair exercises are critical because they assess the essential movements necessary for maintaining independence in daily life. While running marathons isn’t the focus, the ability to perform everyday tasks like getting out of bed, using the restroom, or standing up from a restaurant booth without assistance is. These activities are fundamental to preserving autonomy as we age.

Chairs serve as an ideal test because they replicate real-life scenarios, unlike isolated gym equipment like leg press machines. These exercises evaluate what we call functional strength—the kind that truly impacts our day-to-day living. Can you rise from a seated position without using your hands? Can you lower yourself back into the chair with control, rather than just plopping down? Successfully performing these actions requires a combination of strength, balance, and coordination.

Why Chair Exercises Matter After 60

Chair exercises matter for people over 60 because they test the exact movements that determine whether you’ll stay independent or start needing help with daily activities. I’m not talking about being able to run marathons—I’m talking about getting out of bed, using the toilet, getting in and out of the car, and standing up from a restaurant booth without grabbing the table.

The chair is perfect as it really mimics situations you’ll come up against in real life. It’s not an isolated strength test like a leg press machine. You’re testing what we call functional strength—the kind that actually matters while we’re living our lives. Can you get up from sitting down without using your hands? Can you sit back down and control your descent—not just dropping into the chair? These are actions that require your strength, balance and coordination to work together.

Once we get to 60, the strength in our legs declines faster than most of us realize. Research has shown that we lose about 3% of the strength in our legs once we get past 60—unless we actively work to maintain it. It doesn’t sound like loads, but over a decade that’s almost a third gone. Our fast twitch muscle fibers—the ones that are responsible for quick and powerful movements—deteriorate even faster. This is why it’s not uncommon to feel strong when moving slowly but struggle if you need to react quickly or catch yourself from falling.

The chair format also removes fear from the equation. Many people over 60 are nervous about floor exercises because they’re worried about getting back up. Others avoid standing exercises because they feel unsteady. A chair provides security. You know there’s something stable beneath you, which means you’re more likely to actually do the movements and test yourself honestly.

Chair movements also reveal imbalances that other exercises might hide. When you stand up from a chair, you can’t cheat. If one leg is significantly weaker than the other, you’ll feel it immediately. If your balance is off, you’ll notice. If your hip mobility is limited, it will show up in how you move. This information is incredibly valuable because it tells you exactly what needs work.

The practical benefit is huge, too. If you can do these chair movements well, you can function independently. If you struggle with them, that’s a warning sign that everyday activities are going to become increasingly difficult. Catching these issues early means you can address them before they become serious problems.

30-Second Chair Stand Test

This tests your lower body strength and power—specifically your quadriceps, glutes, and hip flexors. It also measures muscular endurance since you’re performing repeated movements without rest. The 30-second timeframe is important because it pushes you beyond pure strength into the realm of sustained power output, which is what you need for extended periods of activity throughout your day.

How to do it:

• Sit in a chair with your feet flat on the floor, hip-width apart
• Your back should be against the backrest to start
• Cross your arms over your chest—this is super important because it removes your arms from helping and forces your legs to do all the work
• On “go,” stand up completely until your legs are fully straight, then sit back down until your bottom touches the chair
• That’s one rep
• Count how many complete stand-and-sit cycles you can do in 30 seconds
• Move as quickly as you can while staying in control and keeping good form

Elite Level:

• Ages 60-64: 19+ reps for men, 17+ for women
• Ages 65-69: 17+ for men, 16+ for women
• Ages 70-74: 15+ for men, 14+ for women
• Ages 75-79: 14+ for men, 13+ for women
• Ages 80+: 12+ for men, 11+ for women

Strong Level:

• Ages 60-64: 14-18 reps for men, 12-16 for women
• Ages 65-69: 12-16 for men, 11-15 for women
• Ages 70-74: 11-14 for men, 10-13 for women
• Ages 75-79: 10-13 for men, 9-12 for women
• Ages 80+: 8-11 for men, 7-10 for women

Needs Improvement:

• Ages 60-64: Under 14 reps for men, under 12 for women
• Ages 65-69: Under 12 for men, under 11 for women
• Ages 70-74: Under 11 for men, under 10 for women
• Ages 75-79: Under 10 for men, under 9 for women
• Ages 80+: Under 8 for men, under 7 for women

Avoid These Mistakes:

Make sure you stand up completely. You must reach full extension at the top—legs straight, hips fully open. Don’t stop short or you won’t be working through the full range of motion where strength matters most.

Don’t flop down into the chair, control your descent. The sitting portion should be controlled because you’re working your muscles eccentrically on the way down, which is just as important as standing up.

Don’t lean forward excessively, which shifts the work from your legs to momentum. Keep your torso relatively upright.

Don’t bounce off the chair seat to help yourself back up. Each rep should start from a complete seated position with your weight settled.

Single-Leg Chair Stand

This tests unilateral leg strength—how strong each leg is independently. It also tests balance, proprioception, and your ability to control your body weight through one leg. This matters because most real-world movements involve more work from one leg than the other—climbing stairs, stepping over obstacles, catching yourself from a stumble. If you can’t do this movement, you’re at significantly higher risk of falls.

How to do it:

• Sit in the chair with your feet flat on the floor
• Extend your right leg straight out in front of you so your right foot is off the ground
• Keep your arms crossed over your chest
• Stand up using only your left leg until you’re fully upright and balanced on that leg
• Your right leg should remain extended throughout
• Hold for a moment at the top, then sit back down with control, still keeping the right leg extended
• Do 3-5 reps on the left leg, then switch and do 3-5 on the right

Elite Level: 5 smooth reps per leg with no assistance, maintaining perfect balance throughout. You should be able to stand up without any wobbling or needing to shift your weight around to find your balance.

Strong Level: 3-4 reps per leg with minimal assistance. You might need to lightly touch something for balance at the very top of the movement, but your leg is doing all the lifting work. There might be slight wobbling but you recover quickly.

Needs Improvement: Unable to complete even 1 rep without significant assistance, needing to push off with hands, or unable to keep the non-working leg extended. If you can’t stand up on one leg at all, or if you have to put your extended leg down to catch your balance, you need work.

Avoid These Mistakes:

Don’t use momentum to swing yourself upwards instead of using the strength in your legs alone. This is a movement that should be slow and controlled.

Don’t let your extended leg drop down and touch the floor for help—keep it elevated throughout.

Don’t shift your torso far forward to make it easier, which changes the exercise into something different. Keep your chest relatively upright.

Make sure you fully extend at the top. You must stand completely straight and find your balance on one leg before sitting back down. Partial reps don’t count and don’t give you accurate information about your strength.

Chair Sit-to-Stand With Pause

This tests your ability to control your body weight at the most difficult point of the movement—that transitional phase where you’re partially standing but not yet upright. It measures eccentric strength (your muscles’ ability to control lengthening under load) and isometric strength (holding position under tension). This matters because most injuries happen during transitions between positions, not during steady-state movement. It also tests your balance during an unstable phase where many people lose control.

How to do it:

• Sit in the chair with feet flat, hip-width apart, arms crossed over your chest
• Stand up slowly—taking at least 3 seconds to rise
• When you reach the halfway point (your thighs parallel to the floor, creating a 90-degree angle at your knees), stop and hold that position for 3 full seconds
• Don’t move up or down, just freeze
• Then continue standing up to full height
• Reverse the movement—lower yourself slowly, pause again at that same halfway point for 3 seconds, then continue sitting down
• That’s one complete rep
• Aim for 5 reps

Elite Level: 5 clean reps with rock-solid stability during both pause points. No shaking, no shifting weight, no wobbling. The pause should look easy and controlled.

Strong Level: 3-4 reps with minor shaking during the pause but maintaining position. You might need to adjust your foot position slightly but you don’t lose balance or need to grab anything.

Needs Improvement: Unable to hold the pause position at all, needing to either push through it quickly or sit back down. If you’re shaking violently during the pause, losing your balance, or can only manage 1-2 reps, you need significant work.

Avoid These Mistakes:

Make sure you pause at the actual halfway point. Don’t pause too high where it’s easier. Your thighs should be parallel to the floor—this is the hardest position and that’s exactly why we test it there.

Don’t hold your breath during the pause. You need to breathe normally throughout.

Don’t lean too far forward to make the pause easier, which defeats the purpose. Keep your torso at a consistent angle—don’t change positions during the pause.

Don’t rush through the movement to avoid the difficult pause. The entire point is to move slowly and control the pause. If you can’t do it slowly, you’re not strong enough yet, which is exactly the information you need.

What Your Results Tell You

If you’re hitting elite numbers on all three movements, you’re in the top 10-15% of people your age. Your legs are strong enough to keep you independent well into your 80s and beyond if you maintain this level. You have a significantly reduced risk of falls and fractures. You should be able to handle stairs without assistance, get up from low seats without struggle, and maintain your current lifestyle without physical limitations from leg weakness.

If you’re in the strong category, you’re doing better than average but there’s room for improvement. You’re likely independent now and will remain so for years, but you could benefit from targeted strength work to push into the elite category. This is the difference between managing your current life comfortably and having a buffer for the inevitable additional decline that comes with aging. Think of it as building a reserve—you might not need it now, but you’ll be grateful you have it in 10 years.

If you’re in the needs improvement category, this is your warning sign. You’re at the lower end of functional leg strength for your age. You might already be noticing difficulties with certain activities—maybe you avoid stairs when possible, struggle to get out of low chairs, or feel unsteady when standing up quickly. This level of strength puts you at higher risk for falls and injuries. The good news is that this is the group that typically sees the fastest improvement with targeted training because there’s so much room to grow.

Pay attention to asymmetries between legs on the single-leg test. If one leg is noticeably weaker, that’s the leg that will give out first when you stumble or need to catch yourself. This imbalance increases fall risk and often leads to compensations that can cause hip or knee pain. Even if both legs are strong, significant differences between them need to be addressed.

If you struggled significantly with the pause test but did okay on the other two, it tells me your muscles can generate force but they’re not good at controlling force at difficult angles. This often shows up as shakiness or instability during everyday movements. You might feel strong when you’re moving but wobbly when you’re transitioning between positions.

The combination of results across all three tests gives you a complete picture. Someone might have decent endurance (good chair stand score) but poor unilateral strength (struggling with single-leg stands). This person can keep moving when both legs work together but is vulnerable in situations where one leg has to do more work. Another person might have good unilateral strength but poor eccentric control (struggling with the pause test), meaning they can stand up fine but might have trouble controlling themselves when sitting down or going downstairs.

How to Improve If You’re Struggling

Start with the basic chair stand if you struggled with the 30-second test. Do sets of 5-8 slow, controlled reps with no time pressure. Focus entirely on form—standing up completely, sitting down with control. Do this three times per day. Once you can do 10 consecutive reps with good form, then try the timed version again.

If even regular chair stands are difficult, use your hands for assistance at first. Place your hands on the armrests or seat beside your hips and push to help yourself up. Each week, try to use your hands a little less. Push lighter. Eventually just touch the chair for balance rather than pushing. Then try crossing your arms. This progression might take several weeks and that’s perfectly fine.

For the single-leg stand, if you can’t do it at all, start with the supported version. Keep both feet on the ground but shift 70-80% of your weight onto one leg. Stand up using primarily that leg while the other provides minimal support. Do 5 reps on each side. Each week, try to shift more weight onto the working leg. After a few weeks, progress to barely touching the floor with your non-working foot. Then try lifting it just an inch off the ground. Build up gradually to extending it fully.

Another progression is to use a higher seat. Stack firm cushions on your chair to make it higher. The higher the seat, the easier the movement. As you get stronger, remove one cushion at a time until you’re working from standard chair height. This works for all three movements.

For the pause test, if holding the position is impossible, start by just slowing down the movement without pausing. Take 5 seconds to stand up and 5 seconds to sit down. Focus on the halfway point—try to move extra slowly through that section even if you can’t hold a complete pause. After a week or two, try pausing for just 1 second. Then 2 seconds. Build up to the full 3-second pause over time.

Practice the movements daily. Strength builds through repetition. Every time you sit down or stand up throughout your day—from your bed, the toilet, dining chairs—treat it as practice. Do it slowly, focus on form, cross your arms when safe to do so. You’re probably sitting and standing 20-30 times per day. If you make each one a mini-training session, that’s significant volume.

Add resistance work. Simple exercises like wall sits help build the specific strength you need for these movements. Stand with your back against a wall, slide down until your thighs are parallel to the floor, and hold for as long as possible. Start with 10-20 seconds and build up. This directly strengthens the muscles and position used in the pause test.

Heel raises build calf and ankle strength that supports balance during the movements. Stand holding a counter or wall for support, rise up on your toes, hold for a second, lower back down. Do 15-20 reps, three times per day. Strong calves help you maintain balance during the standing portions of these tests.

Expect to see improvement within 2-3 weeks if you’re practicing daily. Your first gains will be neurological—your nervous system getting better at activating the muscles you have. After a month, you’ll start building actual muscle strength. After 6-8 weeks of consistent work, you should be able to move up at least one category in your results. Someone who was in needs improvement should be able to reach strong with dedicated training. Moving from strong to elite takes longer—usually 3-6 months of focused work.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

Safety Tips

Use a sturdy, stable chair with no wheels. A dining room chair works perfectly. The chair needs to be heavy enough that it won’t slide or tip when you’re standing up or sitting down. Kitchen chairs, dining chairs, or a wooden desk chair without wheels are all good options.

The seat height matters. Standard chair height is 17-19 inches from the floor. This is what you should use for testing because it’s the most common height in real life. If you need to start with modifications, you can use a higher chair temporarily, but your goal should be to work back down to standard height.

The chair should have a flat, firm seat. Soft cushions or angled seats make the movement less stable and give you inaccurate results. You want a surface that doesn’t compress much when you sit on it. Avoid recliners, soft couches, or anything with excessive padding.

A chair with arms can be useful when you’re first starting or for safety, but you shouldn’t use the arms during the actual test movements. Having them there provides a psychological safety net and something to grab if you lose balance. Just don’t push off them during the movement itself unless you’re specifically doing the modified version where hand assistance is part of the progression.

Make sure the chair is on a non-slip surface. A chair on a hardwood floor can slide. If needed, put the chair on a rug or mat to prevent movement. The chair needs to be absolutely stable so you can focus on the movement rather than worrying about the chair shifting.

When to Avoid These Movements:

If you’ve had a hip or knee replacement within the past 6 months, check with your surgeon before attempting these tests. Most surgeons will clear you for this type of movement after the initial recovery period, but you need specific approval. The same applies if you’ve had any recent leg surgery.

If you have severe osteoarthritis in your hips or knees that causes sharp pain during normal standing and sitting, these tests might aggravate it. You can still do modified versions with a higher chair or using hand assistance, but pushing through severe pain isn’t helpful. Mild discomfort is fine—sharp pain is not.

Active inflammation in knee or hip joints means you should wait. If your knee is swollen or hot to the touch, give it time to calm down before testing. Exercise during active inflammation usually makes it worse.

If you have severe balance problems or vertigo, do these movements near a wall or sturdy counter you can grab. Better yet, have someone nearby who can assist if needed. The single-leg movements especially can be challenging for balance, and it’s not worth risking a fall just to test yourself.

People with significant osteoporosis should be cautious with the pause test. The sustained tension at difficult angles can stress the spine. If you have diagnosed osteoporosis, stick to the regular chair stands and skip the pause variation unless your doctor has cleared you for this type of exercise.

Recent fractures anywhere in the legs or pelvis mean you wait until you’re fully healed and cleared by your doctor. This seems obvious but people often try to test themselves too soon after an injury.

If you have peripheral neuropathy (numbness in feet) from diabetes or other conditions, be extra cautious. Your balance will be compromised because you can’t feel the floor properly. Do these movements with support available and accept that your scores might be lower due to the balance component rather than pure strength.

Blood pressure concerns matter too. If you have uncontrolled high blood pressure or tend to get dizzy when standing up quickly, move slower during these tests. The rapid standing during the 30-second test can cause lightheadedness. If you feel dizzy, stop immediately and sit back down.

Anyone who has fallen within the past 6 months should approach these carefully. You might have underlying strength or balance issues that caused the fall. These tests will help identify problems, but do them conservatively—use support when needed and don’t push to the point where you risk another fall.

When in doubt, show these movements to your doctor and ask if they’re appropriate for you. Most people over 60 can safely perform these tests, but your individual medical situation might require modifications. It’s always better to ask first than to risk injury and have regrets later.