By Maurice
Different parts of our bodies age differently, but many seniors find it troubling when they begin to lose arm strength. But you don’t have to give in to flabby or weak arms. Keep reading to learn about seniors' exercises that will help maintain muscle tone in your arms and shoulders.
Please click the button below to download a free PDF of the exercises in this article:
Keep in Mind:
Before starting any new exercise(s), we strongly recommend you follow the advice of the National Institute on Aging and consult your doctor.
Benefits of Arm Exercises for Seniors
Many older people want arms that look stronger and less flabby. That’s an excellent reason to do arm exercises, but the benefits don’t stop there. Seniors with healthy arms and shoulders are better able to maintain independence and keep doing the activities they love.
Think of all the ways you use your arms every day. Something as routine as pushing up from a chair is easier with good arm muscle. Carrying groceries, lifting things onto high shelves, picking up babies: all these work your arms, and that’s not even mentioning recreational activities such as tennis and golf.
Here’s another benefit: arm exercise, done with proper form, work your upper back as well, which improves posture and balance. So let’s get started. Here are some exercises to keep those arms and shoulders working for you.
Best Arm Exercises for Seniors
Flabby Arm Exercises for Seniors
You can’t have strong arms without strong shoulders. If you’re just starting an arm exercise routine, here are a couple easy ones for the shoulders to get warmed up for armwork.
1. Shoulder Rolls
This is an ideal way to get ready for an arm session or just to shake out tightness any time of day.
These can also be done seated. When you’re watching TV, plant your feet flat, move forward from the back of your chair, rest your hands in your lap, and do some reps in each direction.
2. Shoulder Blade Squeezes
Another easy exercise with great benefits. It tells your body that you’re ready for a workout.
Upper Arm Exercises for Seniors
Many upper arm exercises call for dumbbells. You don’t need a lot of weight. In fact, be careful not to use too much. These exercises should require effort but should not be painful. Even a pound or two is enough to lead to gains.
Any of these dumbbell exercises can be done with no weight at all! Grip a small towel in your hand or just make a fist.
3. Shoulder Raise
This is an ideal way to get ready for an arm session or just to shake out tightness any time of day.
You can also do both arms at once. You’ll find a different feel in the core muscles that maintain your posture.
4. Bent Row
This exercise works the upper back and shoulders as well as the arms.
Sometimes it’s easier one arm at a time.
Triceps Exercises for Seniors
Too many arm routines emphasize biceps and give triceps short shrift. That’s too bad. It’s triceps weakness that holds a lot of seniors back. For example, you need triceps to put your carry-on in the overhead bin.
5. Triceps Kickbacks
You can also do this sitting in a chair (one without arms, of course). Lean over your knees and rest your off arm on a knee. You can also do both arms at once if you’re confident in your balance.
6. Overhead Elbow Extension
This can also be done from a standing position, which requires more balance control. If you like a challenge, do both arms at once.
Seated Arm Exercises for Seniors
Have a seat and do one exercise for your biceps and another for your triceps.
7. Seated Biceps Curls
This also makes an excellent standing exercise. Keep the feet hip width apart and, again, move your arms with minimal torso movement. You can also work one arm at a time.
8. Seated Overhead Press
Like other triceps exercises, this one builds your ability to put objects on overhead shelves and take them down. If you find that hard, it’s not surprising. Lifting overhead takes coordination of muscles in the arms, shoulders and back.
Most seniors (and most people of any age!) will find this harder than the seated curl and will have difficulty using as much weight. This can be done one hand at a time. The work needed to keep the torso motionless will feel different. As with the curls, you can do this standing.
Exercises for Seniors without Weights
Dumbbells are useful, but there are plenty of exercises you can do without them. Here are examples.
9. Arms Circles
This one sounds so easy. Stick your arms straight out and make circles. If you make tiny circles, it actually isn’t too hard. But if you move your arms slowly and describe large circles, this is a surprisingly strenuous workout.
It’s good to do this in front of a full-length mirror so you can observe your form. The shoulders should stay the same height as each other all through the rotation. The arms should remain parallel to the ground. It’s easy to let them start to drop.
10. Wall Pushups
Older people, especially men, remember when they could drop to the ground and answer the drill instructor’s command to “give me 20.” Even if it’s been years since your last floor pushup, you can still reap the benefits of the world’s most classic arm exercise by using a wall.
If these are too easy, there are lots of variations. Stand farther from the wall. Do them with your hands on the edge of a desk or table. Rather than put your hands directly on the wall, press a small exercise ball or a volleyball against the wall, which demands more balance.
Seated Isometric Exercises for Seniors
Most exercises require you to stop and set aside time for a workout. Not so with chair isometrics! You can do some any time you’re seated at a table or desk or watching TV.
Isometrics can’t make up a fitness program all by themselves. Because the arms don’t move, isometrics do little to build new muscle. They’re excellent, however, for maintaining strength. They’re particularly beneficial for someone whose strength has been compromised by pain, arthritis or injury. In other words, they’re a fine maintenance tool for older adults.
The variety of arm and shoulder isometrics you can do in a chair is limited only by your imagination. Anything that pits the strength of one arm against the other or against an immovable object will do. Here are a few ideas to get started.
In all of these, build your effort gradually, hold maximum effort for a few seconds and then relax your effort gradually. Go for about 5-10 reps.
Conclusion
You don’t have to push a lot of weight to improve your arm and shoulder strength, nor do you have to have to hit the dumbbells every day. In fact, one study found that seniors improved arm strength in as little as 16 sessions over six weeks. That’s not quite three times per week.
Just because you’re getting on in years, that doesn’t mean you have to give up effective use of your arms. Try exercises like these just a few times a week, and it’s likely you’ll have a much easier time with your hobbies and your chores around the house.
Sources:
Arm Exercises for Seniors: 4 Moves for Stronger Arms
Arm Toning for Seniors - Best Arm Toning Exercises for Seniors
Are isometric exercises a good way to build strength?
21 Chair Exercises For Seniors: A Comprehensive Visual Guide
