Talking about improving your fitness levels at a time when you can’t leave the house to go to a tennis club or join a cycling group or dance class might seem strange. But the opportunities to exercise from your own home are almost unlimited.
Crucially, if you can get your head around the technology, there is nothing to stop you enjoying the social aspect of exercising as well, with live classes that you can participate in, apps that allow you to compete against friends and family, and social media where you can share your achievements.
Nor do you need expensive gym equipment. Just make use of what you have at home, using a chair for arm dips, or tights instead of a fitness band, for example (see box below).
Sir Sam Muir said there are unlimited opportunities to exercise in the home (stock image)
With physical fitness closely linked to mental health — something we’ll explore in more detail later this week — it’s more important now, when you’re socially isolated, than ever.
The good news is that it really is never too late. Even if the last time you did something that might be considered active was decades ago, you can start today, now, and it will have genuinely life-changing effects.
Research from the University of Birmingham, published last year in the journal Frontiers in Physiology, looked at people in their 70s and 80s and discovered that those who had never taken part in sustained exercise programmes had exactly the same ability to build muscle mass as highly trained athletes of a similar age.
However old you are, you can still reap the benefits of becoming fitter. And fitness is more important as you age, not less.
If you’re out of shape in your 30s and 40s, you might not be able to run around a football pitch or chase after your kids. But by the time you get to the age of 80, being unfit could be the difference between being able to live independently, and unable. After all, if you’re not fit enough to climb the stairs or get to the toilet in time, that will have a fundamental impact on your quality of life.
When you’re fit, you will have a combination of energy, strength and ease of movement. Your posture will be stable and upright, whether you’re sitting or standing, your body more resilient and your mind motivated and alert.
There are four aspects of fitness that work together to provide this combination. There’s stamina, your cardiovascular powerhouse; strength, essential for your muscle power, endurance and metabolic health; suppleness, required so muscles and joints don’t stiffen, snap or rub; and skill, which is really about maintaining posture, balance and coordination.
Every day, do something towards increasing all four.
Sir Muir Gray made these recommendations on how to exercise at home
Stamina: the heart of fitness
Activities that increase your pulse and breathing rate help to boost your heart and stimulate your circulation. These are referred to as ‘cardiovascular’ exercises and can include many ‘ordinary’ activities, such as gardening or housework.
The recommendation for adults is a minimum of 30 minutes of moderately intense activity at least five days per week, or about two-and-a-half hours in total.
Moderately intense activity makes you breathless but still just able to talk. You don’t have to do it all at once; you can spread your ‘daily dose’ throughout the day, and your total through the week.
If you’ve been inactive, work up to your target gradually. Start with mild activity, such as walking at ordinary speed (which will only make you breathless if you’re very unfit), and increase over four weeks to moderate activity, such as brisk walking or jogging. Move to more intense activity over the next two to four months if you can, walking briskly uphill (great for bone strength) or running.
If you don’t have the outdoor space for walking or running, take a look at our list of online exercise routines (livelongerbetter.net) — all you need is a computer, a tablet or a phone with an internet connection to do an exercise class from your own sitting room.
All you need is a chair… and a pair of tights
LIFT OFF
To strengthen wrists and arms, sit forwards in a chair. Extend legs straight in front, heels to the ground and toes up.
Place hands on the arms of the chair and lift your bottom off the seat, keeping your legs straight. Lift and lower ten times.
SIT TO STAND
For thighs and balance, sit tall near the front of the chair. Lean slightly forwards with feet just behind your knees.
Use your hands to push up and stand (you can put your hands on your thighs as you get stronger). Repeat ten times.
BALLET LEGS
To work legs and glutes, stand sideways to an upright chair. Hold on with your right hand for support and stretch out your left arm for balance.
Point your toes and swing your right leg forwards and then backwards ten times. Repeat on other side.
SIDE STEPS
To encourage balance and stability, stand tall, holding the chair back with both hands. Move your right foot out to the side and back to the centre.
Do the same with your left foot. Continue stepping side to side for about a minute.
STAND AND CURL
To strengthen biceps, stand with both feet in the centre of a band (or use tights) with feet slightly apart. With arms at your sides, grip the band with palms facing front.
Bend elbows and pull your fists up to your shoulders, then relax down. Repeat ten times.
Strength: power to your elbow
Strength is the force generated by muscles working to overcome a resistance. That could be the weight of something you lift or the resistance of an elastic band (or a pair of tights) you stretch.
Over time, exercising against resistance makes you stronger and improves your energy, metabolism, wellbeing, resilience and joie de vivre, too. Muscle strength is critical for preventing falls (so reducing the risk of fractures), as powerful muscles can more rapidly correct a wobble before you hit the floor. This, in turn, protects your head from impact injuries, saving a lot of brain cells!
Muscle-strengthening exercises build bone strength, too, so fractures are less likely if you do fall — particularly important for women after menopause, when bones and muscles lose strength.
If you have weaker bones already, muscle-strengthening exercises and brisk walking are great ways of building them back up.
Last but not least, stronger muscles stabilise joints, making them more efficient, and can help you sustain your cardiovascular activity better.
If you use simple weights or a resistance band regularly to exercise muscle groups, you will gradually increase their strength.
Over time you will be able to lift heavier objects as you build up to a new level of comfortable, maximum muscle strength. You may also notice your muscles are firmer and more toned.
Because you use the muscles of your lower body for walking and dancing, they tend not to need so much strengthening. But pay special attention to your upper body and abdomen (or core).
For upper limb strength
Dumbbells, or weights, are the right tools for both forearms and biceps. Exercise bands are also good, and so is the humble press-up! Create your own variations, but here are three starters:
- Stand up straight, good posture, hands by your side, a 1kg or 3kg weight in each. Lift your arms out to your sides slowly until horizontal and slowly lower them again — don’t lose control. Do this ten times, rest, then repeat.
- With a weight in your right hand, stand upright and let your hand hang beside your body. Bend your elbow until your forearm is upright, now let your hand drop down slowly, always in control. Change to left hand and repeat.
- Take the same weight in your right hand at shoulder height. Push up gently until your arm is straight. Count to ten then lower it again, slowly. Repeat five times, then give the left arm the same treatment.
For core body strength
Lie on your back, hands behind your head. Bend forward, lifting your head and shoulders up six inches and hold that position, counting to 20 if you can, or aiming to build up to 20 seconds over a month if you can’t.
Secondly, with hands by your sides, lift your feet 6 in off the ground, keeping legs straight. Hold them up for 20 seconds if you can, or build up to that over a month. Then, criss-cross your legs ten times, before lowering them slowly.
These exercises are good for abdominal muscles, helping with posture and preventing backache. They also reduce the risk of a hernia developing in the groin. If you already have a hernia, ask your doctor which is the best exercise for you.
Suppleness: the ‘ease’ of it
Suppleness is the ease with which a joint moves through its full range. It is not floppiness, and depends on appropriate muscle tone during rest or activity.
Stiffness is the opposite of suppleness and is one of the most common complaints of ageing. As we get older, we get stiffer more quickly with inactivity, but it can affect us well before our 60s if we’re used to sitting for a long time. It is particularly troublesome for women, as the structure of connective tissue changes after the menopause, making it less elastic.
For supple shoulders
Circle your arms backwards, trying to brush your ears as the arms pass. (If you have frozen shoulder, you might not be able to do this at first, but try it gently.) Don’t cause yourself pain; this is a deceptively simple but challenging exercise. Repeat 20 times or build it up.
For a supple neck
Moving your head in a slow circular motion (don’t push it with your hands) look right and left over each shoulder as though you are checking for an overtaking car. Don’t forget your posture: imagine a wire from the crown of your head to the ceiling. Stand straight, chin in (not like a tortoise with its head forward and chin out).
For supple hips
Lie on your back with your right knee bent and your right foot on the floor. Rest your left ankle across the knee of the bent leg. Push gently on the left knee and rock it a little away from you. Do this ten times, then repeat the exercise with the other leg.
For supple knees
Stand with feet shoulder-width apart. Then bend your knees and hips and try to touch the floor with your fingertips without bending your back too much — a little arching is unavoidable.
If you can do this, try to put your palms flat on the floor. (This should not cause discomfort. If putting your palms on the floor does so, go back to the fingertips.)
Repeat ten times, then put your feet 3 in further apart and do another ten, and then go for another ten.
For hamstrings and calves
Keeping your back straight, bend forward until you feel your hamstrings (the muscles at the back of the upper leg) stretching. Count to ten, relax and stand up. Repeat five times.
Skill: Staying in control
The whole point of balance and coordination is to keep you upright, mobile and safe from falling. So the first thing you need is to be alert.
Most of the time your brain controls your learned movements without you realising it. But if you don’t keep active, you start to lose the connections between nerve cells in your brain and spinal cord — it really is ‘use it or lose it’. Do nothing, and you become less able to regain your balance if you stumble.
Checking your balance regularly will help you avoid problems further down the line. The ability to stand on one leg, for example, is a good predictor of future brain health.
Here are a few suggested exercises. If you can do them, that’s marvellous — keep it up! If you can’t, this suggests that you might have a balance problem and you should chat to your GP about it fairly soon.
First, please check the floor isn’t slippery, and don’t do these if you’ve been drinking alcohol within the last four hours.
To begin, stand on one leg with your eyes open and raise the other, holding it in the air for 30 seconds. Then try the other leg.
Can you get to one minute on each leg before putting your raised foot down again? If so, try to rotate your raised foot while you stand on the other leg.
See if you can build up to a minute on each leg while rotating the other foot.
One day, try it with your raised leg flexed enough at the hip and knee that you can hug that leg. Is it easier or more difficult?
After a week or two, try it with your eyes closed — but only if you’re in a safe place and not on a slippery floor. You should open your eyes immediately if you feel unsteady.
There is no magic set of exercises, and to avoid boredom it is very important to ring the changes. I’ve given you some good ideas and favourites here, but there are excellent websites showing others.
The key is to do at least ten minutes of these exercises for stamina, strength, skill and suppleness every day.
Sir Muir Gray is a consultant in public health for the NHS and professor of primary healthcare at Oxford University.
- Taken from his guides to living well: Sod Sixty, Sod Seventy, Sod Sitting: Get Moving and Sod It! Eat Well — all published by Bloomsbury (bloomsbury.com) at £12.99. © Muir Gray.