If I had 10 seconds to pick five strength exercises I'd give (most of) my clients for the rest of their lives, these are the ones I'd pick. While I would encourage most people to be versatile in the gym, these moves tick the boxes for being compound (multi-joint and multi-muscle), progressive, beginner-friendly, effective, and good for your joints and mobility.
The benefits of strength training are well-documented: stronger bones, joints, ligaments, and muscles; a higher resting metabolism (lean muscle is more metabolically active than fat); decreased sedentary time, and a little boost in mental health. It's a longevity tool that we know becomes even more crucial after 35.
You don't need a list of exercises as long as your arm, either. You can strengthen your whole body and even improve overall mobility with just five. Here they are.
If you experience pain at any time, stop and rest. If you're working with an injury or health condition, or you're currently pregnant or postnatal, I recommend seeking advice before starting these exercises.
5 exercises for longevity
Try adding these five movements to an existing routine, aiming for 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps with roughly 30 to 60 seconds between, or use them to create a higher-intensity circuit. If you follow a circuit, aim for 45 to 50 seconds of work, aiming to hit the same reps for each exercise each time, followed by 10-15 seconds of rest, for 4-5 rounds.
1. Push-ups
Push-ups develop pushing power and are very functional for everyday life, whether it's pushing yourself up off the ground or pushing a pram uphill.
Without weights, they strengthen your triceps, the fronts of your shoulders, known as the anterior deltoids, your core, which stabilizes your torso, and your pectorals (the chest).
Avoid letting your hips sag and always lead with your chest. In the gym, or anywhere you like to train, pairing push-ups and pull-ups offers a pretty complete upper-body workout using opposing movements.
Here's how to do a push-up:
- Start in a plank position, with your weight underneath your shoulders and your palms flat on the floor, shoulder-width apart
- Engage your core, thinking about sucking your belly button toward your spine
- Maintain a straight line from your heels to the crown of your head
- Slowly bend your elbows and lower your chest toward the floor, keeping your elbows tracking back
- Pause, then press upward to your starting position.
2. Pull-ups
Unless you have exceptional levels of relative strength, you might not find pull-ups immediately available to you. If that's the case, many gyms will have assisted pull-up machines; personally, I like to loop a resistance band around a pull-up bar and rest my foot or knee on it to give me support.
Pull-ups develop your pulling power, strengthening your core, biceps, forearms, rear deltoids, and various muscles in your back, including your lats. To target your biceps more, consider turning your palms to face you, known as a chin-up.
Not sure which is better for you? We pulled together a pull-ups vs chin-ups guide.
- Stand under a bar and grip with both hands in an overhand grip, hands wider than your shoulders
- Wrap your thumbs around and grip with your palms rather than your fingers
- Contract your whole body, draw your shoulders back and down, then hang from the bar
- Give your lats an extra squeeze, slightly shrug your shoulders, then pull yourself up with your chest lifting toward the bar. Avoid swinging your body
- Slowly lower to your starting position with control.
3. Front rack squat
There are hundreds of squats you can try using all sorts of different equipment, but one of the weighted squat variations I try to introduce early to clients is the dumbbell or kettlebell front rack squat.
Like the goblet squat, where you'll hold one weight in both hands at your chest, it's one of the more entry-level squats for many people, but with a few extra challenges, and I like clients to learn it early to encourage good habits.
Front racking means holding the weights at your shoulders and driving your elbows forward while you squat; it's brilliant for engaging your upper body and reinforcing an upright torso position.
For many, it also improves mobility and posture. Although I encourage shelving the weights at the shoulders and lifting the elbows high, some people prefer to hold them along the upper back; either is fine, but front-loading works your quads harder.
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand at your shoulders, drawing the elbows up and resting the weights comfortably
- Position your feet roughly shoulder-width apart and engage your core
- Keep your back straight and chest lifted as you sit your hips back and lower into a squat, as if sitting on a chair behind you
- Once your thighs are roughly parallel to the ground pause, then drive upward through your feet and legs to stand, fully extending the knees and hips
- At all times, press through your big and little toes and heels.
4. Suitcase deadlift
Again, like squats, there are lots of deadlifts you can master, whether you're using free weights or a barbell. The reason I love teaching suitcase deadlifts is that it's more accessible for people who are limited on equipment, and for some, the standard barbell deadlift can carry risks for the spine; this can be down to poor form or lifting beyond your means, but also placing stress on the back with the front placement of the bar.
Suitcase deadlifts can be done with heavy kettlebells or dumbbells at your sides, which can be easier on mobility while also encouraging you to really engage your core and drive through your legs, heels and feet. Done well, they'll help you build strength and power.
- If you use dumbbells, hold them so that you can tap one end of the dumbbells to the floor. If you use kettlebells, you can keep more tension by never letting them rest on the floor. Alternatively, place them down after every rep.
- Hold a weight in each hand and stand with your feet hip-width apart
- Softly bend your knees and engage your core
- Drive your hips backward and hinge forward
- Lower the weights to the ground on either side of your feet, allowing the weights to travel close to your sides at all times. Keep your back straight, chest lifted, and shoulders pulled back and down
- Pause, squeeze your back and core muscles, then drive up to stand and extend your hips and legs.
5. Farmer's walk
This rarely makes it off my list. About as functional an exercise as possible, the farmer's walk or farmer's carry is a full-body exercise that develops grip strength (a key indicator of longevity) and overall strength by testing how much weight you can carry in your hands and for how long.
You'll walk holding a weight in each hand by your sides, and it should feel heavy and challenging, especially on your shoulders and forearms. For an extra challenge, hold one heavy weight; this will make your core work harder as it tries to resist rotation and maintain balance and stability through your body.
This is about full-body activation, so squeeze your glutes and quads, plug your shoulders back and down, avoid swinging the weights and brace your abs.
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart and two weights placed on either side of your feet.
- Bend your knees and squat to pick up the weights; keep your chest lifted and the weight evenly distributed across your feet. Look ahead
- Push through your heels to stand. Begin walking without leaning forward, backward, or to one side.
- Consciously squeeze as many muscles as possible and pull your shoulder blades together to prevent hunching. Stand tall as you walk.
What are the benefits?
As you get older, you don't automatically need to start doing different types of exercise just because of your age. This is especially true if you've always trained. In the same way that many pregnant women still have the all-clear to weight train and run when pregnant, as their bodies are familiar with it.
Some of the fittest, strongest people I know are over 50, 60, and 70 and have the biological age of people much younger. Resistance training is one of the most effective ways to bolster your biological age score and stay fit, strong, and active later in life. It's honestly an anti-aging tool capable of strengthening your body against injury and age-related conditions like osteoporosis or sarcopenia.
The next time you hit the gym or you have some spare time at home with minimal equipment, give some or all of these exercises a try.
As you get older, you don't automatically need to start doing different types of exercise just because of your age
Take the time to really control these movements and make the most of them, rather than rushing. Adjust the reps and sets as necessary, and decide what (if any) weights or equipment suit you. If this damages the quality of your reps, stick to using your bodyweight at first.
Give these a try, and let us know how you get on in the comments.
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