Best 4 Exercises to Prevent Decline with Age

We all age a little bit every day. Getting older is just a fact of life, but the rate of decline in our physical and mental health depends on our daily choices. Are you active, or do you spend most of your free time on the couch? Do you lift weights, or do you have a hard time lifting your groceries? Are you setting yourself up for a happy future or a struggle?

One of the most noticeable side effects of aging is loss of muscle mass, which can ultimately lead to a decline in functional activities. Signs of shrinking muscles include avoiding stairs, having to use walls and furniture for balance, and being unable to comfortably get on and off the floor. In this blog post are four easy but essential exercises to keep your lower body, trunk, and upper body strong enough to tackle anything you need to do as you get older!

A general guideline used in strength training is to train major muscle groups 3-5x per week. This means to do these four exercises at least 3x throughout the week.  4 sets of 8-15 reps of each exercise have shown to be the most versatile in gaining muscle strength and endurance.

Depending on your fitness levels, you may notice changes after a few weeks, or you may need more resistance and an increase in exercise volume to see noticeable changes.  You can always add resistance by using weights or resistance bands with some of these exercises. However, body weight exercise is better than no exercise at all! The great thing about these 4 simple exercises is they require almost no equipment except for a chair and a wall!