Strength Training for Older Adults: Spotlight | DNPAO

photo of woman No matter what your age or physical condition, appropriate physical activity can be good for your health. Like young adults, adults over 50 can also benefit from including strength training as part of regular physical activities.

Benefits of Strength Training

As people age, they lose muscle tissue. Strengthening exercises can build muscle tissue and help slow the rate of age-related loss. Strengthening exercises may also be called resistance training, weight training, or strength training.

In addition to building muscles, strength training can promote mobility, improve health-related fitness, and strengthen bones.

Make Strength Training Part of An Overall Activity Program

Although strength training can be valuable by itself, you can gain even more benefit from an overall physical activity program that also includes the following activities:

Endurance aerobic activities: These activities should be of at least moderate intensity and increase your heart rate and breathing for extended periods of time. They can help improve your stamina for daily tasks and can help improve the health of the heart and circulatory system. Examples include walking at a brisk pace, bicycling, and dancing. For descriptions of intensity levels, see Intensity.)
Stretching activities: These activities help keep your body limber and flexible by stretching muscles and the tissues that hold the muscles in place.
Balancing exercises: Balancing exercises can help prevent falls and fall-related injuries. One example of a form of exercise that emphasizes balance is Tai Chi.

Making Sure You’re Ready

Being more active is safe for most people regardless of age. Strength training can be very beneficial; however, people with a chronic medical condition should check with a doctor before they significantly increase in their level of physical activity.
For more information about conditions to be aware of and for a questionnaire you can use to assess your own readiness, visit Ready to Get Strong?

Getting Started

The following suggestions can help you get started with strength training:

Look for opportunities in your community. Community recreation centers, churches, and schools may offer physical activity classes that include strength training. Classes may also include aerobics and flexibility activities.
Strength training exercises can be modified to accommodate health problems, for example, by varying whether the exercise is done standing, seated, or lying down. Again, strength training classes may also include aerobics, flexibility activities, and calisthenics.
Join a health club or work with a personal trainer for instructions on how to use strength-training equipment.
Try other everyday activities that can help you become stronger. For example, many typical household, gardening, and manual labor activities (such as lifting, carrying, digging, raking, splitting wood, and sawing) strengthen muscles. Although these activities alone do not offer the comprehensive benefits of a strength training program, they can help you strengthen some muscles.
Check with your local bookstore or library for a book or video to begin a strength training program at home. For example, you can download a printable version of the Growing Stronger course in Resources.

Maintaining Interest

Strength training provides the most benefits when you adopt it as a regular activity in your daily life. Consider the following tips for maintaining your interest:

Vary your strength training routine. After engaging in strength training for a few weeks, try alternating muscle groups or adding additional activity components.
Exercise with friends or family to provide encouragement to each other. For example, go to the gym together or sign up for a community Tai Chi class.
Keep a journal of your strength training activities to track your progress. A record of your activities can help you recognize improvements.
If a new challenge helps maintain your interest, try one of the following tips:
- Gradually increase the difficulty of your training. If one exercise begins to seem too easy, try others that can help you increase your strength.
- Increase the number of sets you do for various exercises. (A “set” is the number of times you repeat an exercise. The recommended number of sets varies with the exercise.) As you become comfortable with a certain exercise, try performing additional sets to add variety to your strength training program.

For more suggestions on ways to keep up your enthusiasm, visit Staying on Track.

Examples of Exercises You Can Try At Home

The following graphics show examples of exercises that can strengthen your legs and that you can try at home. Having a stronger lower back and legs can help you avoid falls and fall-related injuries.


Knee Flexion	Knee Extension	Hip Flexion	Hip Extension	Chair Squats

To learn more about exercises you can do at home, visit

Related Information

For more information about strength training and its benefits, including suggestions on how to get started, how to avoid injuries, and how to maintain interest, visit the following sites:

CDC's Growing Stronger - Strength Training for Older Adults
Developed by Tufts University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
NIH SeniorHealth.gov
Developed by the National Institute on Aging and the National Library of Medicine, both part of the National Institutes of Health.

For general information about the importance of physical activity, visit Physical Activity for Everyone.

For information about the percentage of adults who participate in strength training, see Strength Training Among Adults Aged > 65 Years, MMWR, January 23, 2004; 53(02);25–28.

For tips on questions to ask when choosing a fitness facility, see Tips for Choosing a Fitness Facility (PDF-40k).

Please note: Some of these publications are available for download only as *.pdf files. These files require Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to be viewed. Please review the information on downloading and using Acrobat Reader software.

* Links to non-Federal organizations found at this site are provided solely as a service to our users. These links do not constitute an endorsement of these organizations or their programs by CDC or the Federal Government, and none should be inferred. CDC is not responsible for the content of the individual organization Web pages found at these links.

Page last reviewed: May 22, 2007
Page last updated: May 22, 2007
Content Source: Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion