On-your-feet workouts can be great, but what if you want to sit and still reap the benefits of strength training?
Seated exercises — while they’re good for sneaking in more activity, regardless of age — are especially helpful for older adults with mobility or other health concerns, notes Cleveland Clinic.
If you’re not confident in your balance, have diabetic neuropathy (diabetes-related nerve damage that can affect the legs and feet), or are recovering from a major health event, you should absolutely consider seated exercises, says Deborah Lensing, DPT, a physical therapist and board-certified orthopedic specialist with Twin Cities Orthopedics in Waconia, Minnesota.
Plus, no matter your mobility, balance, or strength levels, adding some seated exercises to your desk or TV time routine can help you get and stay more active for years to come.
5 Seated Exercises for Older Adults
Seated exercises can help older adults build muscle, improve flexibility, and increase heart rate. They can also build functional strength, or the strength needed for everyday activities, like carrying groceries and climbing stairs, notes Mayo Clinic.
These five moves, courtesy of Lensing, will help you boost strength while also being gentle on your joints. To do them, you’ll need a chair, long resistance band, and mini band.
1. Banded Shoulder External Rotation
Body part: Shoulders
- Sit tall with your shoulders back and down, and your feet flat on the floor. Grip one end of a resistance band in each hand. Hold it in front of your abdomen.
- Keeping your elbows tucked against your sides, squeeze your shoulder blades together to pull the ends of the resistance band apart.
- Slowly return to the starting position and repeat.
This move strengthens the upper back and rear shoulder muscles, helping improve posture.
2. Seated March
Body part: Legs
- Sit tall with your feet hip-width apart on the floor. Grip the sides of the chair for additional support, if needed.
- Brace your core, then lift one knee toward your chest while keeping your opposite foot planted on the floor. Keep your chest high. Don’t allow your shoulders to round forward.
- Slowly return your foot to the floor, and repeat with the opposite leg.
To make the exercise more challenging, loop a mini band around both legs just above your knees.
The seated march helps build leg strength to climb stairs, lift your legs to get dressed, and maneuver over the sides of bathtubs with ease, Lensing says.
3. Sit to Stand
Body part: Legs
- Sit tall with your feet hip-width apart on the floor and your toes pointing forward.
- Keeping your chest tall, push through both feet to stand up. Try not to use the chair for help.
- Return to a seated position by bending your knees to sit your butt down and back. Be sure to move with control; don’t plop down into the chair.
- Repeat.
This exercise is key for maintaining hip and leg strength to get in and out of chairs without help.
4. External Rotation
Body part: Butt
- Sit at the edge of the chair and loop a mini band around both legs just above the knees. Press the insides of your feet together. Grip the sides of the chair for support, if needed.
- Keeping your chest lifted and your feet together, press your thighs against the mini band to pull your knees apart. Stop once you feel a gentle squeeze in your side butt muscles.
- Bring your knees back together with control. Repeat.
This exercise works the outer hips and glutes, which often get weak from too much sitting. “Also, these are important muscles for walking,” Lensing says.
5. Banded Biceps Curl
Body part: Arms
- Sit tall with your feet hip-width apart on the floor. Place a resistance band under one or both feet, and press your heels into the ground to keep it anchored.
- Grip one end of the band in one hand, palm facing up, and let your arm hang down at your side. Keeping your elbow close to your side, curl your hand toward your shoulder.
- Squeeze your biceps at the top before lowering your hand back down. Try to maintain constant tension in the band.
- Repeat four reps before switching sides.
Doing seated biceps curls with a resistance band is a simple way to keep your arms strong for lifting everyday objects. “It also helps maintain upper-body bone density,” Lensing says.
Joseph Hribick, PT, DPT, COMT, FAAOMPT
Medical Reviewer
Dr. Joseph Hribick is a clinical assistant professor of physical therapy at Lebanon Valley College in Pennsylvania. He's an alumnus of Lebanon Valley College and received his bachelor of health science (BS) in 2009 and doctor of physical therapy (DPT) in 2011 as the valedictorian of his graduating class. He earned his certified manual physical therapist (CMPT) designation in 2017 and his certified orthopedic manual therapist (COMT) designation from NAIOMT in 2020.
In 2021, he earned the designation as a fellow of the American Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy. In 2020, Hribick was the recipient of the Nevelyn J. Knisley Award for Teaching Excellence by Lebanon Valley College.
In addition to his full-time faculty position at Lebanon Valley College, he teaches orthopedic and manual therapy professional development courses to physical therapists across the United States. Hribick also maintains an active clinical practice treating patients in an outpatient private physical therapy practice.
He has presented his research in orthopedic physical therapy practice and reducing fall risk in the older adult population on a national level. He has been cited in multiple health and wellness publications as a content expert and serves as a subject matter expert for a national physical therapy licensure examination preparation company.
Lauren Bedosky
Author
When she's not writing about health and fitness — her favorite topics being anything related to running and strength training — she's reading up on the latest and greatest news in the field and working on her own health goals.