The Single Best Upper Body Exercise You Can Do After 60
The single best upper-body strength training exercise you can possibly do after 60!
To stay independent and active in your 60s and beyond, it’s essential to maintain your upper body strength.
A stronger upper body is vital to everyday tasks and to keep up with your mobility, flexibility, and heart health.
Your upper body includes muscles that are in your shoulders, back, chest, and arms.
Together, they help you lift and carry grocery bags, pick up your laundry basket, and mow the lawn.
They are also an indispensable part of keeping your posture and upper body stability and overall balance. In which, you may see a natural decline with aging unless you help to maintain with exercise.
Without strengthening those upper body muscles, you may be more prone to injuries, poor posture, and reduced stability.
For those who need extra care for heart health, strengthening your upper body also contributes to a better heart. Your heart is encompassed by the muscles in your upper body (1).
Adding exercise to your routine can benefit your heart by increasing blood flow and improving your cardiac and skeletal muscle mass (2).
If your regular workout routine lacks an upper body-focused exercise, it’s time to add one to your regimen.
The Pushups
One nearly-perfect upper body exercise you can start with in your 60s is the pushups.
And if the difficulty of the exercise makes you quench, it shouldn’t.
Pushups can be adjusted to fit any strength and fitness level.
Adding elevation to this upper body exercise can take some gravity off and lessens the difficulty.
If you are a complete beginner, you can even start with a wall pushup and walk your way up to a floor pushup.
What’s critical is you perform the exercise with the proper form.
Learn the correct way to perform a pushup.
How to Perform a Proper Pushup
- Place your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart at chest level.
- Adjust your feet so they are just about hip-width apart and perfectly in line with the body. Don’t let your toes or heels point inward or outward. They should be parallel to each other.
- Form a straight line from your shoulders to the hips and pull your belly button in to maintain a natural curve on your back.
- Don’t let your head drop and keep it in line with the shoulders.
- Engage your core and squeeze the glutes. Bend the elbows to lower your chest and hips toward the floor (or any surface you are using) and stop when you reach as close to it as possible.
- Engage the chest, triceps, and core. Press through the hands to push your body up to the starting position.
- Repeat 7-10 times to start. You can increase the reps you improve your fitness level.