Exercises for Different Ages

As a twenty-something, you can push your body harder than you can later. For this decade, I recommend Clean & Jerk. It’s a full-body exercise that works the glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, deltoids, triceps, biceps and core muscles. It also helps build power and overall strength.

Learning proper form in your 20s will help you through all the decades to come, and this exercise works multiple muscle groups and requires excellent form with each step.

In your 30s you want to keep working on strength because from your mid-20s to mid-30s you are at your strongest. For this decade, I suggest Squats. This exercise builds strength in your strongest muscles, your legs, and specifically: your hips, quads, glutes, calves, and core.

This is a great exercise at any age, but a great one to work on as you keep building strength.

As you reach your 40s, you can still make gains, but you want to also maintain the hard work of the last two decades. During this decade focus on Pull Ups. This exercise works your lats and biceps, while also using your deltoids, rhomboids, and core.

This is an exercise lots of folks shy away from, but if you’ve been using proper form since your 20s there is no need to do so!

In your 50s you want to keep maintaining some level of strength training, but the amount of weight is less important. For this decade, concentrate on Planks. This exercise will help strengthen your abs, core, lower back, glutes, and quads.

In your 60s you want to make sure you’re focusing on compound exercises instead of isolation exercises. Push Ups are a great way to involve multiple muscle groups, and you can modify push ups to be knee push ups, chair push ups, or wall push ups, depending on your strength and fitness.