The five simple exercises that are crucial in midlife

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.

Strength exercises

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 help maintain a strong pelvic floor and prevent lower back pain. Photo / 123rf

Sumo Deadlift

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.

1. Set-up: Stand with your feet wider than shoulder-width apart and toes pointed slightly outward. Place a kettlebell on the floor between your feet.
2. Grip the kettlebell: Bend at the hips and knees to reach down and grasp the kettlebell handle with both hands, keeping your back straight and chest up.
3. Brace your core: Engage your core muscles by drawing your navel towards your spine. This helps stabilise your spine and protect your lower back.
4. Set your hips: Lower your hips towards the kettlebell, keeping your back flat and chest up. Your torso should be inclined slightly forward.
5. Drive through your heels: Push through your heels as you extend your hips and knees, lifting the kettlebell off the ground. Keep the kettlebell close to your body throughout the movement.
6. Stand tall: Once you’re fully upright, pause briefly at the top of the movement, squeezing your glutes at the top to fully extend your hips.

Dumbbell split squats enhance leg strength and stability, reducing fall risk. Photo / 123rf

Dumbbell split squat

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.

1. Set-up: Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand by your sides.
2. Step back: Take a large step backward with one foot, positioning it so your heel is lifted and your toes are in contact with the ground. Your front foot should be flat on the floor.
3. Stance: Adjust your stance so that your front knee is directly above your ankle and your back knee is lowered towards the ground.
4. Engage your core: Engage your core muscles to maintain balance and stability throughout the movement.
5. Lower down: Lower your body straight down by bending your front knee and lowering your back knee towards the ground. Keep your torso upright and avoid leaning forward excessively.
6. Depth: Lower yourself until your front thigh is parallel to the ground, or as low as is comfortable for you, while maintaining proper form.
7. Drive up: Push through the heel of your front foot to straighten your front leg and return to the starting position. Keep your back leg in a slightly bent position throughout the movement.

Dumbbell single arm row from static lunge

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.

1. Set-up: Hold a dumbbell in one hand with an overhand grip (palm facing your body). Stand with your feet hip-width apart and take a step back with one foot into a lunge position. The front knee should be bent at a 90-degree angle and the back knee should be slightly bent.
2. Stance: Ensure your front foot is firmly planted on the ground, and your back heel is lifted. Keep your torso upright with your chest lifted and shoulders back.
3. Brace your core: Engage your core muscles to stabilise your spine and maintain balance throughout the movement.
4. Rowing motion: Initiate the movement by pulling the dumbbell up towards your pelvis, retracting your shoulder blade as you do so. Keep your elbow close to your body and your wrist straight throughout the movement.
5. Squeeze and pause: At the top of the movement, squeeze your back muscles for a brief pause to maximise muscle engagement.
6. Lower down: Slowly lower the dumbbell back to the starting position, maintaining control throughout the eccentric (lowering) phase of the movement.

Mobility exercises

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.

Shoulder rotations maintain shoulder mobility for daily activities. Photo / 123rf

Shoulder rotation

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.

1. Set-up: Stand with feet shoulder width apart and create tension throughout your body, bracing all muscles apart from the working arm.
2. Movement: Externally rotate the arm so the palm faces outwards. Start to move the arm into the midline of the body and upwards until your hand is pointing straight up towards the ceiling. At this point it should feel like it reaches its end range or sticking point: this is where you internally rotate the shoulder the opposite way and make the biggest circle you can, reaching backwards with the arm. Once your arm reaches your hip, move back the way you came: when you reach the sticking point, you will externally rotate the shoulder and slowly move the arm upwards and back to the starting position ready to repeat again.

Hip rotations improve hip flexibility, essential for squats and deadlifts. Photo / 123rf

Quadruped hip-controlled articular rotation

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.

1. Set-up: Start on your hands and knees in a quadruped position, with your wrists stacked under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Maintain a neutral spine with your core engaged throughout the movement. Begin by engaging your core muscles to stabilise your spine and pelvis.
2. Movement: Lift one knee off the ground, keeping it bent at a 90-degree angle, and begin to rotate your hip outward, opening your knee towards the side. Move your knee outward as far as you comfortably can while maintaining control and stability in your core and pelvis. Avoid arching your lower back excessively or letting your pelvis tilt to one side. Once you’ve reached the end of your range of motion in the outward rotation, rotate your leg and bring the knee towards the back midline of the body and lower the knee down to the floor. Reverse the movement by kicking the foot upwards: once it reaches its end range, without arching your lower spine, externally rotate the hip and bring the leg back through the same pathway to return to start position.

As told to Emily Craig