Image credit: Chris Floyd
It's widely known that building muscle is important as we age. However many of us associate strength training with going to the gym - and that doesn't work for everyone.
Writer Kate Spicer had that problem. She joined a two month muscle-building programme at her local gym.
"I had a noticeable increase in strength, positivity and energy," she says. "I resolved to attend a gym two to three times a week, for ever and ever. But, after the programme ended, I returned maybe twice. I just couldn’t get going."
Instead, with the help of personal trainer Steve Agyei she built a muscle building routine into her daily dog walk.
Here we share his ten exercises that you can work into a daily walk to help you build strength, balance and longevity.
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Spicer said: "Skeletal muscle preserves not just strength, but also balance, mobility, blood sugar control and energy levels. It’s become known as the ‘organ of longevity’ and grip strength predicts how long we will live as reliably as blood cholesterol levels and blood pressure, and certainly more reliably than age, according to one Austrian study.
"To add another benefit, when we exercise, the body produces lots of helpful hormones that signal our body to regenerate and renew, from Klotho, our body’s own anti-ageing protein, to brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which messages the brain to make new neurons (brain cells)."
But we don't need a vast array of gym machines to make a difference. Spicer started by adding different paces to her dog walks and then tried hanging off monkey bars in the playground before turning to Agyei for advice.
Agyei says: "Walking is our best medicine. Your only problem is that the monkey bars work the back and shoulders and you want an all-round body workout.
“Using a park bench and your body weight is all you need. That’s resistance training and functional fitness combined. It’s getting you ready for life, not just for the gym.”
Agyei devised a sequence of nine simple exercises for Spicer to do on park benches as she did her regular laps of her local dog walk on Wormwood Scrubs in West London. Including the monkey bars, that made ten in total.
She says: "He also recommended I run between benches to up the cardio. Some days I do that; some days I don’t. But my fitness is building.
"I test my strength in small daily ways. Can I carry full bin bags easily? If I am on a train, can I easily put my suitcase on the shelf overhead? Putting on my socks, can I do it standing on one leg? And I’m doing OK."
These 10 moves can be completed in 5–10 minutes or can be part of a 30-minute walk where you walk for a few minutes between each bench and exercise.
“This workout targets the whole body and uses equipment which can be found in most parks and outdoor exercise areas,” says Agyei.
Do this three times. Place hands shoulder width apart on the bar or rings. Cross legs at the ankles, bend your knees. Hang as long as you can. Aim for five seconds at first and then every day try to hang for a little longer.
When you can manage one minute progress to Shoulder Shrugs, which are the same as the Dead Hang, but this time shrug your shoulders, keeping your arms straight, lift your shoulders towards your ears, hold for a split second and then release your shoulders and lower them to the starting position to complete one rep. Aim for 10 reps.
Stand in front of the bench, feet hip width apart, bend your knees and push your bum back until it lightly touches the bench. Keep arms forward to counterbalance the movement. Come back to standing.
Too challenging? Use your arms and hands to push you up to standing. Repeat 10 times.
Stand a pace or two away from a bench, feet hip width apart. Lean forward, keeping your body straight and place your hands wider than your shoulders on top of the bench (or bench back).
Bend your elbows and lower your chest towards the bench and fully extend your arms to return to the starting position. Repeat 10 times.
Sit on your thumbs, then lift yourself off the bench keeping your back close to the bench. Bend your arms until they reach 90 degrees and then extend them to reach the starting position to complete one rep.
To increase difficulty extend your legs out to a fully straight position; to decrease it bend your knees. Aim for 10–15 reps.
Stand in front of a wall or tree and your feet hip width apart. Rise up onto the balls of your feet, with your heels off the floor as high as they can go and hold for a second at the top of the movement.
Lower the heels and come back down to the starting position to complete one rep. Do 10 reps.
Stand in front of the bench with your back to it, with one leg in front of the other. Come on to the heel of the front foot with your toes pointing up. Keeping your front leg straight, bend your back knee and push your bum back until it lightly touches the bench, with your arms going forwards to counterbalance the movement.
Straighten your legs to return to your starting position to complete one rep. Try this 10 times.
Sit on the bench, feet hip width apart, with a straightened back and your shoulders down. Lift your hands up to shoulder height. Then fully extend your arms over your head until the two thumbs nearly touch in the middle to complete one rep.
Try 10 reps. To make it more challenging add weights.
Sit on the bench, feet hip width apart, with a straightened back, your shoulders pulled down and your arms straight down by your side with your elbows fully extended.
Bend your arms until your hands are by your shoulders and then fully straighten your elbows to return to the starting position. Try 10 of these. To increase the intensity add weights.
While sitting, place your hands on the back of the bench. Lean back and extend your legs forwards fully straight, with your heels on the ground, your feet flexed and toes pointing up. Lean forward and simultaneously bend your knees and drive them towards your chest.
Then return your legs and feet to the starting position to complete one rep. To increase the intensity, you can keep the feet off the floor throughout the exercise. Try 10 reps.
Place one foot on a step and the back foot on the ground. Straighten the leg with the foot on the step and drive the other knee up to hip height and then return it back to the ground to complete one rep.
You could do this at home on your staircase where you can create extra stability by holding on to the banister. Try 10 on each leg.
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