Sixty is a starting line.
Muscle listens to training at every age. What you do this year decides how independent the next decade feels.
Start Gentle Start with the timer
Why it matters more now
After 60 the yearly loss of muscle and balance speeds up, and it is exactly that loss that turns a rug into a hazard and a jar into a project. Training reverses it: studies find real muscle growth in people in their nineties. It is never too late, and this year beats next year.
The three abilities to keep
Getting up from a chair without hands, standing on one leg by the counter, and carrying the shopping. Sit-to-stands, heel raises, single-leg stands and wall push-ups train all three at home. Gentle Start walks you through ten minutes of them; Steady & Balanced is the falls-prevention set physiotherapists teach.
Start smaller than pride suggests
Ten minutes counts. A chair or wall version of every exercise is built into our plans, and the halfway beep tells you when to switch sides. Check with your doctor first if you have heart disease, chest pain with effort, or a recent fall; otherwise the best day to start is a weekday this week.
The cheapest strength equipment that works
A set of bands covers every exercise a beginner strength plan asks for, at any level, in any room, for the price of one gym visit.
See resistance band setsWant this built around your body?
A doctor and a certified coach write your plan around your conditions, joints, medicines and goal. $99, delivered within 24 hours, one free adjustment.
Common questions
Can I build muscle after 60?
What is the best exercise for balance?
Is it safe to start exercising at 70 or 80?
Written by the AskDoc Medical Team and reviewed under our Medical Director, MBBS. Health education, not a personal prescription.