If you’re over 60, fitness’s top priority is to make your body look younger again. As we grow older, our bodies experience physical and hormonal changes. According to Harvard Health Publishing, in fact, after turning 30, you lose 3% to 5% of muscle mass every 10 years. Our testosterone and growth hormone levels are reduced, and so is our strength and endurance. Muscle can really be considered a fountain of youth, so if so, strength training exercises need to be incorporated into your fitness routine to build and store it.
Aerobic exercise is great, but building muscle and losing fat can make your body look younger. The best strength training exercise to build muscle is compound exercise. That is, use multiple muscle groups at once. They are the best value for your spending and will help you get the best results.
If you don’t know where to start, here’s a sample of whole-body training to incorporate into your routine. Perform the following three sets of exercises to build muscle, burn fat, and make your body look younger again. And then, check out the six best exercises for a strong, toned arm in 2022, says the trainer.
Start this exercise by standing with your feet shoulder-width apart and a weight (a kettlebell, dumbbell, or even a trap bar works!) On the floor. Push your hips back and crouch low enough to grab your weight. In the meantime, make sure your shoulders match your weight and your torso is straight when you get in place.
With the core firmly down on your shoulders, push your heels and hips to make you taller and press on your upper gluteal muscles to gain weight. Reverse the motion and restore the weights before running another assignee. Repeat 10 times for 3 sets.
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Lying on a sloping bench, grab a dumbbell. Hold it straight up with your arms fully extended. Return the scapula to the bench as you lower the weight toward your chest. Stretch your chest firmly, then push the weights back to the starting position and push the pectoral muscles and triceps muscles up. Repeat 10 times for 3 sets.
Grab the lat pull-down bar with your palm just outside your shoulders. Lean back a little, pull the bar down toward your sternum with your elbows, and press on your latissimus dorsi at the bottom of your movement. While maintaining the tension of the latissimus dorsi muscle, it resists on the way. Lift the scapula and do enough stretching at the top before performing the next person. Repeat 10 times for 3 sets.
Related: Six Lean Body Mass Exercises That Everyone Over 60 Should Do, Trainer Says
Place your foot firmly on the pad of the seated low machine and grab the handle with both hands. Pull out the attachment, straighten your back, and move your body so that your legs are almost fully extended. Raise your chest, tighten your core, keep your knees soft, row the attachment toward your body, and finally squeeze your shoulder blades together. Then straighten your arm completely until your shoulder blades are stretched, then perform another person. Repeat 12 times for 3 sets.
Hold one foot in front and the other foot behind and move it into place. With your chest raised and your core tight, keep yourself under control until your back knees touch the ground and stretch the lower part. Push the heel of the front leg back and bend the quadriceps and gluteal muscles to finish. Run all contacts on one side before switching legs. If your weight alone is too easy, you can also use dumbbells to do this. Repeat 3 sets of 10 times on each leg.
And next, check out the best workouts for stronger muscles after age 60.