You need good muscles to be strong and healthy. That is a given. However, as you age, it gets harder to build and maintain muscles, which is why you may succumb to muscle mass loss.
Exercise is one of the keys to maintaining your muscle mass, and also one of the best ways to keep building your muscles and strength as you age.
Now, if you are thinking that means you have to take yourself off to the gym and start pumping weights, that is not the only way!
Listed here are some exercises that you can do to build muscle mass, regardless of your age, and most of them do not need special equipment and can be done at home.
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Squats
The squat is one of the best exercises to help you build muscle mass and strength in your lower body. This works on multiple muscle groups, especially the glutes, thighs, hamstrings, lower back, and quadriceps.
When you do squats, you are engaging a large amount of muscle tissue, stimulating the production of hormones that promote muscle growth throughout the whole body.
Push-Ups
Push-ups are excellent for building upper body strength and muscles in your chest, triceps, shoulders, and back. Push-ups can also build and strengthen lower back and core abdominal muscles. It can help to develop better body composition.
Start with a few reps, do it daily, and increase the number gradually. You can begin with the basic incline push-up, then explore other variations to make it more challenging. There are rolling push-ups, push-ups with hip abduction, knee push-ups, wall push-ups, decline push-ups, weighted push-ups, and one-arm push-ups. Choose the ones you like to do!
Basic Bridge
The basic bridge is a good exercise that can help strengthen the glutes, lower back, hips, and abdominal muscles. It looks simple, lying on your back with knees bent and bottom raised, but it actually requires a lot of energy.
When done properly, the bridge can strengthen the muscles around your spine and improve your posture. Bridges can also improve balance, relieve back and knee pain, and boost flexibility.
Brisk Walking
Strength training to build muscles is even more beneficial when combined with aerobic exercises. Brisk walking is a moderately intense aerobic exercise to help your body become stronger. It can help you improve your walking speed, especially when you reach past 65. So instead of your walking pace declining, it will get faster!
Do brisk walking for 20 to 30 minutes daily. It can help to relieve stiff joints, allowing you to move around more easily. It will also help increase flexibility in the muscles around the joints and help prevent osteoporosis.
Planking
Planking works on your entire core, from your shoulders to your pelvis, right down your legs. Planks help develop your abdominal muscles, rectus abdominus, oblique muscles, and glutes.
A stronger core helps keep your spine properly aligned, giving you good posture and preventing injuries. It also helps prevent osteoarthritis, a decline in mobility, and neck, back, and shoulder pain.
Swimming
Swimming is a cardiovascular fitness exercise that is great for strengthening your muscles. It is a whole-body workout that provides excellent stimulus for muscle growth. Swimming exposes your muscles to the resistance created by your movements in the water, promoting muscle growth and development.
Your shoulders, abs, legs, back, and triceps are consistently worked when you swim regularly. It also has a very low impact on bones and joints, so it is popular among seniors with arthritis or osteoporosis.
Yoga
You might think that yoga is for flexibility, fitness, and stress management. However, yoga exercises are great for building your muscles. In yoga, there are weight-bearing poses that can help strengthen bones and muscles.
As your heart rate increases, yoga also increases your muscle tone for better balance and flexibility, helping you avoid future injuries.
Resistance Band Workouts
Resistance training is among the chief exercises for building muscle mass. Using resistance bands, you can work out at home and tailor your movements based on your fitness level. You can work on different parts of your body, exposing them to progressively increased resistance, and stimulating muscle growth.
For seniors, resistance band workouts are an excellent low-impact alternative to weightlifting. It is a safer way to build muscle and bone strength.
Building your muscle mass and increasing your strength does not mean you have to go to the gym and lift weights. It also does not mean engaging in intense workouts, which may be more difficult when you get older. The exercises mentioned above are ideal for beginners, so start as soon as possible and improve your muscle mass and health!
