Your Body in Your 60s: Keep the Strength, Keep Doing Life

Let’s clear something up immediately.

Being in your 60s does not mean you suddenly require a collection of extremely gentle exercises performed beside a chair while someone speaks to you very slowly.

Some people in their 60s are running.

Some are hiking.

Some are cycling.

Some are lifting weights.

Some are travelling.

Some are gardening with a level of determination normally associated with major civil-engineering projects.

And some are returning to exercise after many years away.

There is enormous variation.

So rather than asking:

“What exercises should a 60-year-old do?”

A better question is:

“What does this particular person need to remain capable of doing?”

Strength Becomes Increasingly Valuable

This is the decade where maintaining muscle strength becomes particularly important.

Not for vanity.

For life.

Getting off a chair requires leg strength.

Climbing stairs requires strength.

Carrying shopping requires strength.

Getting a suitcase into the car requires strength.

Getting down onto the floor and back up again requires rather more strength than most people realise.

And once these everyday movements begin becoming difficult, people often start avoiding them.

That can create a gradual downward spiral.

Less activity means fewer reasons for the muscles to maintain their capacity.

So the answer isn’t to protect yourself from movement.

It’s to keep giving the body appropriate reasons to remain strong.

What About Tendon Problems?

Tendon problems certainly still occur in the 60s, but I wouldn’t label tendinitis as specifically a “60s problem”.

Several familiar tendon conditions actually have particularly strong associations with middle age.

Age nevertheless changes the background in which injuries occur.

Previous injury, activity levels, strength, footwear, general health and how rapidly exercise has increased may all influence the picture.

Which is why simply being told:

“Well, it’s your age.”

isn’t particularly useful.

Age is information.

It isn’t a treatment plan.

Feet Deserve More Attention

One area I would pay increasing attention to through the 60s is the foot and ankle.

People can begin noticing:

• heel discomfort

• stiff ankles

• aching feet after longer walks

• less confidence on uneven surfaces

• difficulty finding comfortable footwear

But don’t forget the calves.

The calf muscles play a major role in moving the body forwards during walking.

Weakness here can have consequences further down the chain.

Your feet and ankles are effectively your body’s ground crew.

Ignore them completely and sooner or later headquarters receives complaints.

Osteoarthritis Doesn’t Mean Stop

Joint stiffness and osteoarthritis become increasingly relevant as we get older.

But once again, the message should not be:

“You’ve worn the joint out, so use it less.”

The appropriate exercise obviously depends on the person.

One knee may tolerate cycling beautifully but dislike running.

Someone else may comfortably walk several miles.

The aim is to find the amount and type of loading the joint tolerates and build from there.

Balance Enters the Conversation

There is one interesting transition during this decade.

Balance becomes increasingly important.

But balance is often completely ignored until somebody notices they’re losing it.

Balance is trainable.

It deserves exercise just like strength.

And it doesn’t require standing on an inflatable wobble board while somebody throws a medicine ball at your head.

Simple challenges can work very well.

The “Keep Doing Life” Routine

1. Sit-to-Stand

Stand from a stable chair without using the hands if possible.

Lower slowly.

Progress the movement rather than endlessly doing the easiest version.

2. Step-Ups

Practising steps strengthens the thighs and hips and has a direct relationship with something most houses inconveniently contain:

stairs.

3. Calf Raises

Hold a stable surface if necessary.

Rise onto the toes and slowly lower.

Don’t underestimate these.

4. Single-Leg Balance

Stand close to a support.

Lift one foot and hold.

Progress gradually as confidence improves.

5. Resistance-Band Row

Maintain strength through the back and arms.

6. Wall or Elevated Press-Up

The higher the hands are placed, the easier the exercise becomes.

It can therefore be adjusted to the individual rather than labelling press-ups as something you’ve “become too old for”.

7. Hip Hinge

Useful for lifting, gardening and maintaining the ability to bend confidently.

8. Carry Something

Carry appropriately weighted objects for short distances.

Shopping bags have been providing unsupervised functional strength training for generations.

Don’t Let the World Quietly Shrink

This may be the most important part.

Physical decline doesn’t always announce itself dramatically.

Sometimes you simply stop walking as far.

Then you avoid hills.

Then you stop getting onto the floor.

Then certain gardening jobs disappear.

Then you decide a particular holiday might be too demanding.

The radius of life quietly becomes smaller.

Maintaining strength, balance and mobility helps preserve choices.

That is what we’re really training.

The 60s Message

Your 60s don’t need to be about giving things up.

They can be the decade when you deliberately start protecting your ability to keep doing them.

Keep the strength.Keep the balance.Keep doing life.