Simple Ways to Build Strength Safely
Building strength after 50 does not need a gym, heavy weights or a complicated plan. It needs the right level of effort, good control and a little patience, and it can start at home this week.
Monday's article, Why Strength Matters More As We Age, explained why strength, and the speed behind it, changes as we get older, and why the legs deserve attention first. If you have not read it yet, it is worth starting there. Today's article puts that into practice, with four principles that keep strength work safe and four simple exercises you can do with a worktop, a staircase and a bed.
Four Principles That Keep Strength Work Safe
Find the Right Level of Effort
The last two or three repetitions of each exercise should feel like genuine effort, while you can still keep good control. If ten feel easy, the exercise is not yet asking enough. If you cannot finish ten with control, choose the easier version.
Take Your Time on the Way Down
Lowering is where control is built, and it is the part most people rush. Take about three seconds to lower, then come back up at a steady, purposeful pace.
Keep Breathing
It is common to hold your breath when something feels hard. Breathe out as you push or lift, and in as you lower. This keeps the effort steady and is kinder to your blood pressure.
Leave a Day Between Sessions
Muscle gets stronger in the recovery after the work. Two sessions a week, with a day between them, is a sound start. A mild ache a day or two later is normal, but sharp pain, swelling or joint pain that lingers is a sign to stop that exercise and seek advice.
Four Exercises to Start With
Aim for ten repetitions of each, resting for a minute between exercises. Begin with one round, and add a second once one round feels comfortable.
1. Heel Raises at the Worktop
Stand facing the kitchen worktop, feet hip-width apart, hands resting lightly on the edge. Rise slowly onto the balls of your feet, as high as is comfortable, and hold for a count of two. Lower over three seconds. Ten repetitions.
Easier: keep both hands firmly on the worktop and rise only part of the way.
To progress: rest only your fingertips on the edge, or lower even more slowly.
These strengthen the calves, which do a large share of the work in walking, climbing and pushing off.
2. Step-Ups on the Bottom Stair
Stand facing the stairs, holding the banister. Place your whole right foot on the bottom step, push through it to step up and bring the left foot up beside it. Step back down with the left foot first, under control. Do ten leading with the right, then ten leading with the left.
Easier: use a lower step, such as a doorstep, and hold on with both hands if you can.
To progress: step up at a slightly brisker pace while keeping the step down slow.
These build the thigh and hip strength that stairs, kerbs and hills rely on.
3. Bridges on the Bed
Lie on your back on a firm bed, or on the floor if you can get down comfortably, with your knees bent, feet flat and hip-width apart, arms by your sides. Squeeze your buttocks and lift your hips until your body forms a straight line from shoulders to knees. Hold for two seconds, then lower slowly. Ten repetitions.
Easier: lift your hips only a little way.
To progress: hold for five seconds at the top.
These strengthen the buttocks and the backs of the thighs, which help drive you up from a chair and support the lower back.
4. Side Leg Raises at the Worktop
Stand side-on to the worktop with one hand resting on it. Keeping your body upright and your toes pointing forwards, lift the outside leg a short way out to the side, then lower it slowly. Avoid leaning away. Ten on each side.
Easier: make the lift smaller.
To progress: pause for two seconds at the top of each lift.
These strengthen the side of the hip, which keeps your pelvis level as you walk.
Fitting It Into Your Week
The whole session takes around fifteen minutes. A few practical points:
choose two days with a gap between them, such as Tuesday and Friday
jot down how many repetitions you managed, so you can see progress over the weeks
progress one exercise at a time rather than everything at once
If you have already started carrying more or practising getting up from the floor after Five Daily Habits That Support Healthy Ageing, these exercises build on that work. For a view of how strength fits into the rest of your week, see our cornerstone guide, The Complete Guide to Healthy Ageing Through Movement.
Apollo Insight
The most common mistake we see is not doing too much, but choosing an effort so gentle that nothing changes. People are understandably cautious, and it is easy to assume that safe means easy. In practice, it is control that keeps strength work safe, not lightness. A movement done slowly and with good form, that feels hard by the last few repetitions, is both safe and effective, and if an exercise never feels like effort, it is time to progress it.
This Week's Movement Tip
The Slow Sit-to-Stand
If you counted your thirty-second sit-to-stands with us at the start of September, this is the same movement turned into strength practice: the aim now is control on the way down rather than speed.
Choose a firm, stable chair without wheels and set its back against a wall. Sit towards the front with your feet flat, hip-width apart and slightly behind your knees, and cross your arms over your chest. Lean forwards from your hips until your nose is roughly over your toes, then press through your heels and stand up tall at a brisk, steady pace. To sit, reach your bottom back towards the chair and lower yourself slowly, taking a full three seconds to touch down rather than dropping the last few inches. Ten repetitions. If you need your hands, push lightly from your thighs and try to use them a little less each week. When ten feels comfortable, pause for a second just above the seat before sitting. By the end your thighs should be working hard, with your knees comfortable throughout.
Before starting any new exercise programme, please consult your healthcare professional if you have any medical conditions, concerns or existing injuries. If you experience pain or worsening symptoms whilst exercising, stop and seek appropriate medical advice.
How Can Apollo Help You Build Strength Safely?
If you would like a programme built around your body and what you want to be able to do, Clinical Exercise & Rehabilitation offers supervised strength work at our Sheringham clinic, with exercises chosen, checked and progressed for you. It is particularly helpful if you are starting after a long break, returning after an injury or working around a joint that complains. If you would rather build strength in a small, supervised class, Reformer Pilates offers controlled strength work for the legs, hips and trunk, with the machine’s springs providing support or resistance as you need it. Explore our services or get in touch to find out more.
How Apollo Health Collective Supports Healthy Ageing
Healthy ageing is about understanding your body, looking after it well and having the right support when you need it.
At Apollo Health Collective, we help people stay active, capable and independent through personalised, evidence-informed care. Our integrated approach brings together different areas of expertise to support movement, recovery and long-term wellbeing.
Our Sheringham clinic offers Osteopathy, Sports Therapy, Sports Massage, Clinical Exercise & Rehabilitation, Reformer Pilates, Podiatry, Biomechanics, and Lifestyle & Wellbeing services. We also offer Osteopathy appointments in Norwich and Coltishall.
Whether you are recovering from an injury, managing ongoing concerns, looking to improve your movement or simply investing in your future health, our team is here to support you.
