Top 4 Bed Exercises to Rapidly Tone Arms and Reduce Jiggle for Seniors Over 60

Enhance your arm strength and tone from the comfort of your bed with these effective exercises.

If you’ve just undergone surgery or face mobility challenges, you might consider incorporating bed exercises into your routine. These gentle movements, performed while lying down, offer a safe way to maintain muscle strength. Moreover, they enhance flexibility and circulation without the risk of falling.

With age, it’s common for arm muscles to lose firmness, but there’s hope. We reached out to Eric North, known as The Happiness Warrior. As a wellness speaker, coach, and advocate, North is on a mission to redefine aging with strength, purpose, and emotional vitality. He shares four bed exercises that can effectively tighten arm muscles more rapidly than lifting weights for those over 60. So, let’s set aside the dumbbells and dive in!

“For individuals over 60, simple bed exercises can reduce arm jiggle more effectively than traditional weight training,” North explains. “These exercises utilize consistent, low-load, high-repetition movements, which are safer and easier to maintain daily compared to heavy weights at the gym with lengthy rest periods. At this stage of life, muscle tissues respond better to controlled, frequent, and low-strain activities, aiding faster recovery. Consistency is crucial in any exercise regimen, particularly as we grow older.”

“Simple bed exercises can tighten arm jiggle faster than traditional weight training for people over 60 because they help us leverage consistent, low-load, high-repetition tension that is safer and easier to maintain daily compared to heavy gym weights with extended rest periods,” North tells us. “At this age, muscle tissue responds better to controlled, frequent, and low-strain movement that allows for faster recovery. Consistency is the key to any exercise program, especially as we age.”

Mattress Dips

1. Begin sitting at the edge of the bed, placing your hands on the surface of the mattress beside your hips, fingers facing forward.
2. Lift your hips off the bed.
3. Walk your feet away until your knees, hips, and torso form 90-degree angles.
4. Activate your core and keep your shoulders relaxed as you bend your elbows to lower your hips toward the floor.
5. Press back up until your arms are straight, engaging your triceps as you do so.
6. Keep your back close to the bed for max tricep engagement.
7. Perform 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps (or 1 minute per exercise).

Close-Grip Pushups

1. Begin kneeling on the bed and position your hands right under your shoulders, closer than shoulder-width.
2. Keeping a tight core, lower your chest while keeping your elbows tucked close to the sides of your ribs.
3. Press back up.
4. Perform 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps (or 1 minute per exercise).

Bed Skull Crushers

1. Begin by lying down with your back on the bed, holding your hands over your shoulders with light dumbbells or heavy water bottles.
2. Bend at the elbows, lowering the weights toward your temples or beside your eyes.
3. Keep your elbows pointed toward the sky.
4. Completely extend your arms back up.
5. Perform 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps (or 1 minute per exercise).

Plank Shoulder Taps

1. Assume a forearm plank position on the mattress.
2. Keep your hips still as you lift your right hand to tap your left shoulders.
3. Return to the forearm plank position.
4. Repeat on the other side.
5. Perform 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps (or 1 minute per exercise).

Lying Around-the-Worlds

1. Begin by lying flat on your back with your arms at your sides.
2. Gradually lift your straight arms in a wide circular motion over your head until your thumbs meet each other behind your head.
3. Then, bring them back down in a wide arc motion.
4. Make sure your arms stay tight throughout.
5. Perform 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps (or 1 minute per exercise).