Chair Exercises For Seniors

Exercises for seniors are very important, exercising for seniors will help to keep their minds and bodies moving and functioning properly, without exercise seniors increase the chances of living as healthy as possible.

Senior health and senior exercise we recognize at Loving Assisted Living is a vital part of living as healthy as possible, so we have put together a little guide of a few exercises that will be helpful for seniors whose mobility is limited, so we have created this chair exercises for seniors.

Senior Chair Exercises

chair exercises for senior

Chair exercises for seniors are a great way for aging adults to get some exercise.  These exercises can be done at any time at any location as recommended by the National Council on Aging.

For some of the excess, you can use dumbells or resistance bands but it is not necessary to have them, movement is the key, just keep the body moving.

Please keep in mind, that for these senior chairs exercise everyone has different levels of comfort when it comes to exercise. For safety, it’s important to start slow and develop a healthy routine that is tailored to your abilities, you may want to consult a doctor before you start.

Benefits of Performing Chair Exercises For Seniors

Seniors who exercise regularly will help with your overall health, it will help with joints and your heart. It can also help to prevent strokes, heart attacks, falling, and high blood pressure.

Senior chair exercises can still help to keep you moving, keep your heart rate up, and give you the endorphins boost, so here is a great list of chair exercises that seniors can do in any chair.

All of the exercises can be done with or without dumbells or resistance bands. All of the exercises are designed to go at your own pace, and always keep your core tight. Please make sure that the chair will not slip while you are doing the exercises.

 

Shoulder Exercise

Steps:

1. Get a pair of low-weight dumbbells.
2. Sit comfortably on the chair with your hips as far back as possible.
3. Keep your core tight.
4. Start with both of your elbows spread to the sides of your body and under your shoulders. Stick your chest out.
5. Palms forward, gripping the dumbbells.
6. Extend your arms up, reaching above your head until fully extended or that feels most comfortable. Do not touch your hands together and keep both arms parallel to each other.
7. Once your arm’s extension limit has been reached, slowly bring the hands back down to the starting position, keeping the elbows apart.

Seated Front Shoulder Raises

 

Steps:

1. Get a pair of dumbbells, a resistance band, or a medicine ball.
2. Sit comfortably on the chair with the hips as far back as possible.
3. Keep your core tight. Stick your chest out.
4. With dumbbells, keep your arms to the sides of your body, and let them hang naturally with both palms facing toward your body.
5. With the resistance bands, slide the band under the seat, or sit on it, until it’s at an equal length on both sides of your body. Then, keep both arms to the sides of your body, and let them hang naturally with the palms facing toward your body.
6. With a medicine ball, place the ball at the edge of your lap, and keep your hands on either side while gripping the ball.
7. Keeping the arms straight and your palms in their facing positions, continue to move the arms up in front of your body.
8. Stop the motion when the arms are parallel with the floor and the hands are in the direct vision of the eyes.
9. Proceed to slowly return to starting position.

Chest

 Seated Chest Press

Steps:

1. Grab a resistance band.
2. Place the resistance band at a point on the chair where it’s directly behind the back just under where the shoulder blades would be.
3. Sit comfortably in the chair with the hips as far back as possible.
4. Keep your core tight. Stick your chest out.
5. Keep both palms down, elbows bent, and parallel to your shoulders. Both hands should be positioned just outside of shoulder width.
6. Push the resistance band forward until your arms are fully extended in front of your body.
7. Slowly revert back to starting position.

 Modified Push-Ups

Steps:

1. Stand to face the chair straight with your body.
2. Place both hands on the sides of the chair’s seat. Keeping both arms slightly bent at the elbows, shift both feet backward a couple of feet until the body is in a diagonal position in front of the chair.
3. Slowly bend your elbows, moving the body closer to the chair.
4. Once the chin has almost touched the chair, push back to starting position.

Biceps

 Seated Bicep Curls

Steps:

1. Grab a pair of dumbbells or a resistance band.
2. If using a resistance band, slide it under the seat, or sit on it, until it’s at an equal length on either side of the body.
3. Sit comfortably in the chair with the hips as far back as possible.
4. Keep your core tight. Stick your chest out.
5. Keep both arms to the sides of your body, and let them hang naturally with both palms facing forward, keeping the elbows tucked.
6. Proceed to move both forearms in a curling motion from the sides of your body to the front of the shoulders.
7. While keeping tension, slowly lower both forearms back to the starting position.

Triceps

 Isolated Tricep Extensions

Steps:

1. Grab a dumbbell.
2. Sit comfortably in the chair with the hips as far back as possible.
3. Keep your core tight. Stick your chest out.
4. Keep both elbows high, in front of your body and one hand lowered behind the head creating a “V” shape. Use the other hand to brace the arm just under the elbow. Keep the helping hand in this position. The hand with a dumbbell should have its palm facing toward your head.
5. Raise one arm with a dumbbell over your head until it is fully extended.
6. Slowly lower the forearm back to the starting position.
7. Repeat for both arms.

 

Core Exercises

 Seated Knee-to-Chest

Steps:

1. Sit comfortably at the edge of the chair without feeling like falling over.
2. Keep the back straight and your core tight. Stick your chest out.
3. Place both hands at the sides of the chair and grip the seat to keep it stable.
4. Place both feet far out in front of your body and point the toes to the ceiling. Both feet should be diagonal to your hips.
5. Slowly, raise both legs closer to your body while bending your knees. Get as close to your chest with both knees as possible.
6. Slowly, perform this motion in the exact opposite direction back to starting position. This equals one “rep”.

Extended Leg Raises

Steps:

1. Sit comfortably at the edge of the chair without feeling like falling over.
2. Keep the back straight and your core tight. Stick your chest out.
3. Place both hands at the sides of the chair and grip the seat to keep it stable.
4. Place both feet far out in front of your body and point the toes to the ceiling. Both feet should be diagonal to your hips.
5. Lift one leg up to the highest point possible without moving the center of your body. The other leg will stay in starting position.
6. Slowly lower the leg back to starting position then repeat with the opposite leg.
7. Kicking both legs equals one “rep”.

 Leg Kicks

Steps:

1. Sit comfortably at the edge of the chair without feeling like falling over.
2. Keep your back straight and your core tight.
3. Place both hands at the sides of the chair and grip the seat to keep it stable.
4. Place both feet far out in front of your body and point the toes forward. Both feet should be diagonal to the hips. When shifting both feet in front, slowly lean the upper body backward to stabilize.
5. Lift one leg up to the highest point possible without moving the center of your body.
6. Slowly lower the leg back to starting position then switch with the other leg.
7. Each kick per leg counts as one “rep”.

 Modified Planks

Steps:

1. Stand to face the chair straight with your body.
2. Place both hands on the sides of the chair’s seat. Keeping both arms slightly bent at the elbows, shift both feet backward a couple of feet until your body is in a diagonal position in front of the chair. Make sure that the buttocks aren’t high in the air, nor that the back is arched. If a senior is feeling resistance in their core, then they’re in the correct position.
3. Keep in this position for 30 seconds then stand up or sit down to take a slight break.
4. Repeat 2-3 times.

Tummy Twists

Steps:

1. Grab a medicine ball.
2. Sit comfortably in the chair toward the edge of the seat for extra room. Keep your core tight. Stick your chest out. Both hands should be in front of your body-gripping the sides of the medicine ball, with elbows bent.
3. Lift the ball a couple of inches off your lap then rotate the upper body to the right, keeping the ball in front of your body.
4. Rotate to the middle of your body then rotate to the left, and finish by rotating back to the middle.
5. Each “rep” is one full rotation.

Leg Exercises

 Chair Squat

Steps:

1. Sit comfortably in the chair toward the edge of the seat.
2. Keep your core tight. Stick your chest out.
3. Ensure your toes are pointed forward or slightly outward to both sides; keep both hands in front of your body in a comfortable position for balance.
4. Slowly, sit up from the chair until fully standing. Check the knee placement when moving from sitting to standing so they aren’t bending inward. This exercise requires using the hips, not the knees, to thrust the body to a standing position.
5. Sit back down.

13. Modified Squats

Steps:

1. Position the chair in front of your body, facing toward the back end. Take a step back from the chair.
2. Center your body directly with the middle of the chair. Place both hands out in front of your body.
3. Position both feet at hip-width apart, directly under your body.
4. Point the toes forward or partially away from the center of your body.
5. Keeping the knees behind the toes, bend both knees and loosen the hips, moving the buttocks toward the floor.
6. Once at a stop in the squat position, push the body back to a standing position.

 Knee Extensions

Steps:

1. Sit comfortably in the chair with your hips as far back as possible.
2. Keep your core tight. Stick your chest out.
3. Place both hands at the sides of the chair and grip the seat to keep it stable.
4. Keep both legs at a 90-degree angle with the chair.
5. Extend one leg in front of the body up in the air until the full extension is made. Keep the other leg in its original position for stability.
6. Slowly draw the one leg back to starting position.
7. Repeat for both legs to count as one set.

 Heel Slides

Steps:

1. Sit comfortably in the chair toward the edge of the seat.
2. Keep your core tight. Stick your chest out.
3. Place both hands at the sides of the chair and grip the seat to keep it stable.
4. Extend one leg far out in front of your body and point the toes forward. The extended leg’s foot should be diagonal to the hips.
5. With the extended leg, keep your foot flat, push against the floor and drag the foot slowly toward your body until it reaches the flexed position of your other leg.
6. While keeping pressure, extend your leg back to the starting position.

 Seated Calf Raises

Steps:

1. Sit comfortably in the chair with your hips as far back as possible.
2. Keep your core tight. Stick your chest out.
3. Place both hands at the sides of the chair and grip the seat to keep it stable.
4. Keep both legs at a 90-degree angle with the chair. Both feet should be flat on the floor.
5. Slowly, extend the heels of your feet upward, pushing the toes on the ground and lifting the heels in the air.
6. Place both feet back to the starting position.

 

 

We hope that this article is helpful as we care about the quality of life for all seniors, we also have a stretching guide for seniors, and we try to promote a healthy lifestyle for all senior citizens.

Here at Loving Assisted Living, we provide you or your loved one the chance to find the best options for all of your assisted living needs or Memory care needs, we have a large referral network, so we will take all of the guesswork out of finding the best community for you.