1-Minute Workouts to Make You Stronger After 50

Simple ways to get moving

To get started, Wadland suggests tying an exercise snack to a daily habit in certain rooms, such as doing a plank in the kitchen while waiting for the coffee to brew or doing a one-legged balancing move while brushing your teeth in the bathroom.

You can even place sticky notes in each room to remind you to do the movement. Another strategy is to set a timer to do each snack at a certain time, like 9 am, noon and 5 pm.

“Linking it to something you are already doing can be a great way to adapt these exercise snacks to your day,” she said.

There are multiple options for exercise snacks, so Wadland says to pick movements that you like the most.

Here are five examples of exercise snacks that you can do for one minute each. Each includes a way to increase the challenge to your body’s muscles. Please check with your doctor first before doing any new exercise.

Five One-Minute Workouts

Archie Israel, a trainer and medical exercise specialist in the Washington, DC, area who works with clients age 50 and over, helped design this workout and models the exercises below. He recommends starting with just a few reps and adding over time to create a daily habit.

Eli Meir Kaplan

1. Chair sit to stand

Make sure you are sitting on a sturdy chair that won’t move when you do. Shift your body to the edge of the chair, legs shoulder-width apart. Lean your weight a bit towards the balls of your feet and come to standing, back straight, knees above the feet, weight on the whole foot and then sit back down. Repeat.

Eli Meir Kaplan

Extra credit: Begin standing in front of the chair, and squat as you if you were going to sit in it. Just before you sit, stand back up.

Eli Meir Kaplan

2. Counter Plank

While standing, position yourself a few feet from the counter. Keep your feet a few inches apart. Put palms on counter, about shoulder-width apart from one another. Allow the body to lean toward the edge of the counter, drawing your shoulder blades slightly toward one another and hold.

Extra credit: Walk your feet away from the counter, or perform the plank on the floor.

3. Heel to toe lifts

Stand behind a chair and hold on to it for support. Raise your heels off the floor until you are standing on the balls of your feet. Slowly lower your heels back to the floor. Repeat.

Eli Meir Kaplan

Extra credit: Take hands off the chair. As you lift your heels, lift your arms overhead and alongside your ears. Slowly lower arms and heels back to the floor. Repeat.

Eli Meir Kaplan

4. Marches

Slide forward in a chair with your back straight. And “run” in place, lifting one knee and then the other as fast as you can.

Eli Meir Kaplan

Extra credit: Stand behind the back of the chair and place your hands on the chair for support. Lifting one knee as high as you can, balance on your opposite leg. Repeat on the other side and then march as fast as you can in place.

Eli Meir Kaplan

5. One-legged balance

Stand behind the back of a sturdy, unmoving chair, or the edge of a countertop in the kitchen. Place hands on top of the chair or the counter. Place your weight slightly more on one leg (right or left, it doesn’t matter which you start with) and lift the heel of the opposite leg and hold for a minute. Repeat on other leg.

Eli Meir Kaplan

Extra credit: If you feel steady on the standing leg, begin to lift the whole foot of the opposite leg, then work your way toward balancing without the support of one hand and then without either hand and hold for a minute. Repeat on other leg.

Building Up Over Time

Researchers say the key to gaining the most benefit from exercise snacks is to do them consistently and throughout your week. Over time, the movement snacks will add up. If you do them enough times, you can reach the recommended health guidelines for physical activity. Here’s one way:

5 snack workouts X 1 minute each (1-minute rest time between) X 7 = 35 minutes

The more often you do them, the more you’ll gain in physical fitness.