You’ve probably heard about the importance of lifting weights as you get older, because it’s a fantastic way to future-proof your muscles, bones and joints.
However, there are some good reasons why you might not feel confident with weights right now. Perhaps you’re recovering from an injury, haven’t exercised in a while, or don’t want to pay for a gym membership or invest in bulky equipment.
Jill Brown is a 59-year-old board-certified health and wellness coach, personal trainer and Pilates instructor and, as you’d expect, she’s seriously fit. As she revealed in her workout diary, she says that lifting heavy weights is no longer part of her routine.
“I don’t lift heavy because of injuries,” Brown tells Fit&Well. “There’s plenty of research that shows that muscle grows just as well with lighter to moderate weights.”
But if you’re going to use a light weight, something else needs to increase to make sure your body is challenged enough to respond by building muscle. Brown does this with reps.
I’m a fan of 20 reps
Jill Brown
“I’m a fan of 20 reps,” Brown says. “When you're doing high reps, your heart rate stays up, which means you burn more calories.”
However, she doesn’t recommend that beginners start this high. “For a beginner, start at six to eight reps and work your way up,” she suggests.
“Start wherever you are—see how many you can do. Write down that number, and then the following week, add some more,” Brown advises. “If you can do a plank for 20 seconds, great. Do 20 seconds for the first week. Then the next week, 25 seconds. Then the next week, 30 seconds.”
Below, Brown shares the 30-minute workout she recommends for anyone getting started with strength training. She suggests starting by doing as many reps of each move as you can do with good form, and increasing your reps incrementally each week.
You will need a long loop and short loop resistance band for this workout. Here are a couple of options from Theraband.
Jill Brown’s 30-minute resistance band workout
1. Squat
Sets: 2-3 Reps: 6-8
How to do it:
- Stand with your feet around shoulder-width apart with your toes pointing slightly outwards.
- Engage your core.
- Push your hips back and bend your knees to lower into a squat, keeping your chest upright.
- Push through your feet to return to standing.
- To make this more challenging, place a resistance band just above your knees and gently press your knees out against the band as you move.
2. Lunge
Sets: 2-3 Reps: 6-8 each side
How to do it:
- Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart.
- Take a big step forward with one foot, then bend both knees until you tap your back knee on the floor, keeping your front knee tracking over your toes and your torso upright.
- Push through your front foot to step back to the starting position.
3. Banded bent-over row
Sets: 2-3 Reps: 6-8
How to do it:
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart, and place a long resistance band underneath your feet.
- Engage your core.
- With a slight bend in your knees, hinge forward from your hips and push your butt back, keeping your back straight.
- Take hold of the band in both hands, with your hands hip-width apart and tension in the band between your feet and your hands—this is your starting position.
- Pull the band towards your lower ribs, bending your elbows and drawing them past your torso, gently squeezing your shoulder blades together at the top of the movement.
- Slowly extend your arms to return to the starting position.
4. Banded lat pull
Sets: 2-3 Reps: 6-8
How to do it:
- Hold a resistance band overhead with your arms extended and your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, with a small amount of tension in the band.
- Pull your hands apart as you bring the band down towards your upper chest, bending the arms and drawing your shoulder blades down and back.
- Slowly extend your arms overhead, keeping tension in the band as you return to the starting position.
5. Child’s pose to kneeling push-up
Sets: 2-3 Reps: 6-8
How to do it:
- Kneel with your butt resting on your heels, your knees hip-width apart, your arms extended forward, and your palms and forehead resting on the floor—this is child’s pose.
- Move your body forward and up so your arms are extended.
- Once your shoulders are directly above your hands, bend your elbows to lower your chest toward the floor.
- Push through your hands to extend your arms and return to child’s pose, moving your butt back to touch your heels.
6. Banded floor press
Sets: 2-3 Reps: 6-8
- Lie on your back with a resistance band wrapped underneath your upper back, holding the ends with your elbows bent and upper arms resting on the floor.
- Brace your core and extend your arms straight up.
- Slowly bend your elbows to lower your arms back towards the floor with control, keeping tension in the band.
“Resistance training prescription for muscle strength and hypertrophy in healthy adults: a systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis” in the British Journal of Sports Medicine