If you’re a dedicated gym-goer or simply in-sync with your overall health and wellness, you’re likely familiar with the term “functional strength.” This concept stems from functional fitness, which spotlights movements you do in daily life. (Think: transitioning from a seated to standing position, squatting to pick up shopping bags, or rotating to reach behind you.) The best part? You don’t necessarily need heavy weights or fancy equipment to build and maintain functional strength. We chatted with experts to learn their go-to bodyweight exercises that signal you’re stronger than most of your peers after 50.
“We move dynamically through our everyday life and so our training should mimic that,” explains Antonietta Vicario, chief training officer for Pvolve. “We incorporate mobility into our strength training, as it works our joints through their full ranges of motion to reduce both joint sensitivity and tightness in the body and lessen the risk of injuries. We also add stability work to create better balance in the body, sharpen our reflexes, and lessen the risk of falls. All this will increase your health span beyond just isolating muscles for growth.”
Kristen Hislop, certified triathlon coach (Ironman and USA Triathlon), personal trainer (AFAA), and owner at Hislop Coaching, favors bodyweight training because it “knocks down any barriers to getting it done—we all have our bodies with us!”
Kristen adds, “Bodyweight training is a great way to assess your progress. Just be sure to keep the focus on form versus just trying to lift a heavy weight. After 50, a huge part of your focus should be on form and a full range of motion. Being able to complete an exercise in the full range of motion means we have mobility in the joints being utilized. Being stronger than 90% of your peers is a nice bragging right, but our goal should be to get 100% of people over the age of 50 strength training and doing cardio. If you are interested in living a better life, then incorporate strength training and cardio into your weekly schedule.”
Now, let’s dive into the best bodyweight exercises to do after 50 that signal you’re strong and fit.
4 Bodyweight Moves That Prove You’re Stronger After 50
Planks
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“Planks are such a full-body exercise and recruit every single muscle in the body and indicate that we can hold our own body weight,” Antonietta points out. “I also love that there are endless variations here to keep things interesting. Last, loading through the bones of the upper body in this position helps to maintain their density, as all weight bearing activities stimulate bone growth.”
- Lie flat on your stomach.
- Place your hands below your shoulders or rise onto your forearms.
- Your body should form a straight line from your head to your feet.
- Activate your core and brace your abs.
Pull-ups
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“This exercise works the shoulder, back, biceps, triceps, and chest,” Kristen says. “Great for grip strength.”
- Begin standing tall.
- Grab onto a pull-up bar using an overhand grip, just outside shoulder-width.
- Completely extend your arms to assume a dead hang position.
- Activate your glutes, core, and back as you pull yourself up until your chin clears the bar.
- Use control as you lower yourself back to the start position.
- Try the pull-up calculator to learn what stats to aim for.
Single-Leg Squats
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“The single-leg squat works the quads, glutes, hamstrings, and inner thighs,” Kristen points out. “[This exercise] works on balance as well as hip, knee, and ankle mobility.”
- Stand tall with your feet comfortably apart.
- Make sure most of your weight is in your heels.
- Lift one leg up and extend it in front of you.
- Press your hips back and begin to bend your standing knee.
- Hold the position while focusing on squeezing your hip and thigh muscles.
- Use control as you lower into a single-leg squat until your thigh is parallel to the floor.
- Press through your heel to straighten your knee and return to standing.
- Try the single-leg squat calculator to learn what stats to aim for.
Single-Leg Romanian Deadlifts
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“This exercise works the posterior chain muscles, calves, hamstrings, and glutes. [It also trains your] balance and hip mobility,” Kristen tells us.
- Stand tall with your feet a comfortable distance apart.
- Move your chest toward the ground by pressing your hips back and keeping your back flat.
- At the same time, lift one leg off the floor behind you and up toward the ceiling. Your knee can be slightly bent as you hinge; keep your hips even.
- Gradually return to the start position.
- Aim to hold the single-leg RDL for 1 minute per side. Over 3 minutes would likely put you into the “over 90%” category.
Alexa Mellardo
Alexa is a content strategist, editor, and writer based in Greenwich, Connecticut. She has 11+ years of experience creating content for travel, lifestyle, fitness, wellness, F&B, home, and celeb news publications. Read more about Alexa
