Stay strong and mobile in your 50s with these essential strength and mobility exercises. Photo / 123rf
Maintaining strength and mobility are key to ensuring you stay healthy and active in your 50s and beyond.
I’ve been a personal trainer for more than two decades now, so I know that building up and maintaining strength, rather than succumbing to muscle loss, can be the difference between whether you suffer a bruise or a broken bone if you fall over later in life.
The decision to keep your joints moving now will determine the range of motion you have for decades to come. These two pillars of physical health – strength and mobility – can be built up in the comfort of your own home, all you need to do is invest in some weights. And the earlier you start, the better.
Midlife should be a time when we stop exercising in pursuit of that elusive toned belly and instead focus on priming our body to weather the ageing process. Here’s how to do it.
From around 30, we typically lose 3 to 8 per cent of our muscle each decade, which limits our ability to do simple activities, such as walking up the stairs. Strengthening exercises help combat this by building muscle back up.
Using weights also increases our bone mineral density, protecting against osteoporosis – when the bones become brittle, fragile and more likely to break – which is especially prevalent among women due to hormonal changes during the menopause.
Building muscle is also great for our metabolic health, because muscle eats up more calories at rest and during exercise, meaning it can protect against the midlife spread (an expanding waistline). It can also keep blood sugar levels in check.
For beginners, start with lighter weights and repeat each exercise 12 to 15 times, followed by a one to two minute break. Complete three to four sets, two to three times a week. Over time, select heavier weights with the goal of reducing the number of repetitions you can perform to six. Practised weightlifters can jump to heavier weights and perform fewer reps.
Sumo deadlifts engage the posterior chain – the muscles that run along the back of the body. These power basic movements, such as getting up and down, taking the stairs and picking something up from the floor, and are also vital for good posture, preventing lower back pain and maintaining a strong pelvic floor – all things that can deteriorate with age.
Dumbbell split squats strengthen the legs to improve stability and balance – factors that can help with walking up the stairs, getting up from the sofa and reducing the risk of falls. If you gain more stability, the likelihood of a fall is going to be lower.
This exercise is about upper back strength and helps protect against poor posture and kyphosis – when the top of the back becomes rounded. It also improves grip strength, which is something that can deteriorate with age.
Mobility exercises are about strengthening joints, which can degenerate as we age and become tight and stiff. By slowly and intentionally moving our joints through their fullest range, you can improve or maintain what’s called our “usable range of motion”.
While performing these exercises, focus on having a slow, controlled pace, paying attention to any areas of tightness and making sure your body is stiff and still to offset any compensations and truly isolate the joint you are working on.
Each movement should be performed five to 10 times on each side, followed by a one-minute break. Complete one to two sets daily or a few times per week.
Having a full range of motion in the shoulder is vital for everyday activities and exercise. Poor mobility in this joint limits what we can do.
Hips are notoriously limited in range due to sitting. This is one of the biggest obstacles for being able to do strengthening exercises, such as squats and deadlifts, and is often the cause of back pain. Hip mobility opens up so many opportunities to move better and improve performance.
As told to Emily Craig
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