Ditch traditional weight training for these productive morning moves.
If staying young, active, and independent is a top priority for you, daily exercise should be, too. As you age, muscle loss becomes inevitable due to a natural process called sarcopenia, which can begin as early as age 30. Over time, this decline can negatively impact your overall quality of life. Without strong muscles, daily tasks—like walking your dog, getting changed, and even heading outdoors to grab the mail—can become challenging. Engaging in fun hobbies like pickleball, bowling, and gardening may start to become difficult as well.
Once you start a routine, fitting in a workout will be second nature. And we’ve made it easy with four morning exercises that can help restore muscle loss better than weight training after 50.
“What I love about this list [of exercises] is it scales infinitely,” explains Jacob Siwicki, founder and head coach of Siwicki Fitness, NCSF and AFAA certified, former top 1% globally ranked Equinox group fitness instructor (2019), Dartmouth economics graduate and former Dartmouth football player, fitness expert on FOX 5 DC, ranked #1 personal trainer in D.C. in 2021. “A true beginner can sit down and stand up from a chair, do pushups against a wall or on an elevated surface, do a single-arm row with a water jug, and do a hip thrust with just bodyweight. Six months later, that same person is squatting with dumbbells, doing pushups on the floor, rowing real weight, and adding a barbell to their hip thrust. The exercises do not change. The load does. And that progression is exactly what fights muscle loss.”
Bodyweight Squats
- Stand tall with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Extend your arms ahead of you or place your hands on your hips.
- Bend at the knees and hips as you lower into a squat.
- Descend until your thighs are parallel to the floor.
- Press through your heels to rise back up to standing.
Pushups
- Assume a high plank position with your hands under your shoulders and your body straight.
- Bend your elbows and lower your chest toward the floor.
- Maintain a long, straight body as you lower.
- Press back up, straightening your arms.
Single-Arm Rows
- Begin by placing your right knee and right hand on a workout bench, maintaining a tall chest and tight core.
- Hold a water bottle or jug in your left hand, extending that arm toward the floor.
- Pull the weight up toward your ribs, keeping your elbow close to your body.
- Hold at the top for a moment before slowly lowering.
- Repeat on the other side.
Hip Thrusts
- Begin sitting on the ground with feet flat, knees bent, and back positioned against a workout bench.
- Press through your heels to lift your hips until your body forms a straight line from head to knees. Your upper back should be pressing into the bench.
- Squeeze your buttocks, holding at the top for a moment.
- Lower your hips back to the start position.
Alexa Mellardo
Alexa is a freelance writer, editor, and content strategist based in Greenwich, CT. She has 11+ years of experience covering wellness, fitness, food, travel, lifestyle, and home. Read more about Alexa
