Most Important Exercise For Seniors to Master!

This article is a transcribed, edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in January 2025. For the original video, go to https://youtu.be/VCraNaPw7Pc

Mike: Today, we're going to talk about the most important exercise for seniors to master, and spoiler, it's something you actually do every day.

Brad: That's exactly right. Now this exercise is very functional. It's going to help you get up off the floor easier. It's going to help you get off any chair, regardless of height, more easily. And it's going to help you be able to pick up things from the floor, on and on.

Mike: But if you're doing this specific exercise wrong, it can lead to imbalances, knee pain, and back pain. So we want to instruct you on how to do it correctly.

Brad: Alright, Mike, we have to tell them what the exercise is. So it all boils down to doing squats. Now there are different ways to do it, and if you do them wrong, you can actually cause some damage and maybe get some knee pain or hip or back pain. We're going to take a trip down memory lane, where Bob and I go through the details on how to do a squat properly.

Mike: But make sure to stay tuned at the end because we're adding another bonus exercise.

Brad: That's right. You always have to make sure you update things. And that's exactly where we're going with this.

Bob: So we're going to start off with a beginner exercise, and when we say beginners, we mean beginners.

Brad: If you've been sedentary all your life and you've really done nothing, you don't like to exercise, but you realize it's important.

Bob: Maybe you're even having trouble getting out of chairs.

Brad: Yes, that's a great time to do this.

Bob: So that's why we're going to start with bridging. Bridging, you can do this in bed. You can wake up and just roll onto your back, and you're going to start putting your feet flat on the bed, and you're going to lift your butt up. You're starting and squeezing your butt cheeks together while you're doing this. Now this is going to start working on the quads a little bit, but also the glute maximus, and it'll start strengthening those muscles you need for standing up or bending over.

Brad: That's right.

Bob: Now, as you do these, you could do like three sets of 10, again for beginners. If you can't do that, do less.

Brad: Do what you can to start with.

Bob: But eventually, if you want to, you can add some weight to this.

Brad: The other thing is, if you're starting this, you might find your feet slipping on the bed then. That might be something you have to figure out. Bob's got his shoes on, but you don't have to wear your shoes to bed.

Bob: You could do it on the floor if you are able to get down to the floor, but I assume you can't. So here I'm adding a little bit of weight, and I'm making it a little bit harder on myself here.

Brad: Sure. Yeah, you don't have to use a kettlebell.

Bob: You can use any sort of weight. I don't know, what would you have used around the house, Brad?

Brad: Well, Bob, I was just thinking you could use a big book.

Bob: Oh yeah, maybe. For some women, their purses probably weigh about 25 pounds.

Brad: Now we're going to get in trouble, Bob.

Bob: No, it's true. Okay, next, Brad's going to show how to do a wall slide versus using a ball. A ball is better. But if you don't want to spend the money on a ball, just do wall slides, and find a slippery surface.

Brad: Yeah, a lot of times if you have a good, solid door that has a finish on it, they're slippery, slipperier than walls. If you have a rough wall, this won't work. You know, with that texture on it. I have some like that in my house. So find a smooth wall, door, whatever. Get your feet out so they're wide, so they're not touching, but they should be shoulder-width wide at least. Make sure you have shoes on that are sticky to the floor. If it's carpet, you could probably use your socks; you should have some shoes on. Get back, and you just simply slide down and up. Baby squats, I call them to start out with, and you can go down a little farther as you feel comfortable going back up. You don't want to get down so far that you can't get back up because it's obviously a bad situation. You'll end up in a bad, dangerous situation.

Brad: Now, the ball Bob was talking about, if you have an exercise ball, you know, if you're a beginner, you probably do not have one of these, but I'll just show you what he's talking about.

Bob: There's another thing that you can do with the ball besides squats. Brad does a lot of different exercises with the ball.

Brad: Oh yeah. The ball is really good; it's been around for years, mostly with therapists.

Bob: But it really, you can really do a controlled squat without bending the knees too far over the front of the foot.

Brad: So you can have a chair right in front of you. Use that for balance and stability.

Bob: You can actually, even if you have some knee pain, quite often you can do shallow squats, and you can get away with it.

Brad: Right.

Bob: It doesn't make the pain worse. So, you've done that for a while, you've gotten stronger, now you need to progress to real squats. Now you can actually start on the corner of a bed, Brad. Especially if the bed's a little bit higher and you can work on just standing up and sitting down, or you want to show on the chair, Brad?

Brad: So if you've got a chair, you should have armrests so you can use your arms to help. And if you're having a hard time getting out of the chair, you might want to put a pillow down or some kind of cushion, and that. It's amazing what one inch of elevation can do.

Bob: It's a huge difference.

Brad: Yeah, it does. It really, really helps a lot. So you might start out here and just take your time and go up. Again, shoot for 10 repetitions. You might start with five, and you'll have enough, and you're maybe short of breath. Then make sure you rest. You don't want to do this when you're out of breath, feeling unsteady, and make sure we're safe.

Brad: Once you can do 10 with the cushion, then you can get rid of the cushion. And then you're going to find you might be down to six or seven, and then work on those for a few days, again, using your arms to help. And you might even get to the point where you can put your hands on your knees and do the 10; that's the next step up. And then the most aggressive is going without using your arms.

Bob: Yep.

Brad: When you're doing 10 like this, you're feeling pretty, you've really accomplished. That may take a few weeks from the start of this.

Bob: Exactly, and you know, the other thing is you can do these throughout the day. I mean, if you do want to do 10 at a time, do three every time you get out of the chair.

Brad: Sure, yep.

Bob: And, as you're creating muscle memory, you're teaching the muscles and the nerves to work together.

Brad: You can avoid some muscle soreness, too. If you do a max amount, you know, you can be sore the next day, and then you may not want to continue. All right, so as you can see, Bob and I demonstrate a progressive exercise program for squats. Now, if you're already to the point at the end of our little history program, and you're at the point where you can get off a chair without pushing off the armrest, and you feel solid, and you can do 10 repetitions, then you're ready for this. And they're actually called lunges.

Mike: Lunges, split squats, there are lots of variations you can try. But for this one, it's important to do because most people have one leg, maybe a little stronger than the other, for whatever reason. Maybe it's an injury, maybe it's just your dominant leg. So this is going to work one leg a little bit more. But you make sure to do both sides yet. So in order to do it, you don't have to put anything on the ground. But for beginners, it does feel nice when you lunge down to have something soft versus a hard floor. And if you're really new and you don't feel comfortable getting up from this position, just do a partial lunge and make sure that you have something to hold onto, a countertop, maybe a countertop and a cane or stick, whatever you have. And just begin with a little partial range of motion. Try to keep an upright posture. Don't lean forward too much when you're doing this, and go down slowly and controlled. Once you can easily get down and get back up safely, try to perform 10 repetitions with good form.

Brad: Right, if you don't have that cushion there, be careful because I know if I go down on a hard floor and my kneecap hits the floor, even just a little tap is painful. One way that I'll do these sometimes, once you get used to it, I like to have my Booyah Stik or the countertop. I'll do a lunge squat, touch, come back, and then alternate. It's a little more difficult. It is more functional if you're pretty active, you like to do hiking or go up and down a lot of steps, as it does help you maintain or increase strength for those functional activities.

Mike: Yes, this is a great exercise. People of all ages do it. Knuckleheads like me do it with weight, but that's just me. Progress slowly. Work up to five reps per side. You could start by going up to 10 eventually. If you can do three sets of 10 on each side, that would be the peak, I guess.

Brad: Yeah, you know, and the other thing we didn't mention yet, but particularly these lunge squats are really good for balance, so that when you feel you're out on unstable terrain hiking in the woods, this is going to help balance and strengthen, all works together. Yeah, oh, that's kind of nice.

Mike: Yes, if you want to check out more videos on how to increase your leg strength for seniors, watch our 10-minute seated exercise.

Brad: I wanted to say it. "10 Minute Seated Exercises for Seniors, Elderly, & Older People."

Mike: So if these seem too challenging for you, maybe start with that video.

Brad: Right, there you go. Enjoy your exercises. You'll really benefit from this exercise.

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