This is the six-move workout a trainer uses to help her parents improve their strength and mobility

You might think that lifting weights is all about changing how your body looks, but it's actually one of the best ways to support healthy aging and longevity.

Strength training not only improves your metabolic health, but it will help you maintain everyday movements that can become harder as we age.

Jennifer Martin is a personal trainer who has been helping her parents, in their 50s and 60s, start strength training and has seen the benefits firsthand.

Their workouts focus on functional exercises, which reflect the way we move in everyday life and improve common movement patterns like getting up off a chair, bending down to pick something up or reaching for something overhead.

Martin also focuses on mobility, which refers to how much movement your joints have and something that naturally declines with age.

Below, Martin shares one of the workouts she’s been using with her parents, along with why each move matters.

Snow angel

Reps: 12

How to do it:

• Sit on a bench or chair with a supportive back.
• Hold a weight in both hands, arms by your sides, palms facing forward and your feet pressed into the floor.
• Slowly raise your arms out to the sides and upward until they’re overhead.
• Return to the starting position with control.

“Snow angels will help strengthen your shoulders, chest, upper back and core,” says Martin, “and it’s great for shoulder mobility. They will help you confidently perform everyday movements such as reaching overhead, lifting overhead and putting on or taking off a jacket."

Skullcrasher

Reps: 12

How to do it:

• Lie on your back on a bench or the floor, knees bent, feet flat on the floor holding dumbbells above your chest with your palms facing.
• Bend your elbows to lower the weights toward your forehead, keeping your upper arms still and your elbows pointing upward.
• Straighten your arms to return to the starting position, focusing on using the backs of your upper arms (the triceps) to power the movement.

“This exercise will strengthen your triceps which will help strengthen your arms,” says Martin. “It will help you feel stronger for everyday movements such as pushing a door open, lifting objects overhead or getting up from the floor.’

Squat

Reps: 8-12

How to do it:

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, with your toes slightly turned out.
• Push your hips back and bend your knees to lower, as if sitting back into a chair.
• Keep your back flat, chest lifted and your knees pointing outward, over the toes.
• Press through your heels to return to standing.

In the video, Martin's father is performing the squats with a balance ball behind his back against a wall, which helps maintain good form.

“Squats will improve your mobility and strengthen your lower body, which will help you get off the couch, get out of the car, and get up and down the stairs with greater ease,” says Martin. “In this exercise, you are strengthening your hamstrings, quads, glutes and core.”

Lunge

Reps: 8-12

How to do it:

• From standing, take one big step forward.
• Bend both knees to 90°, keeping your front knee directly over your ankle.
• Push through your front heel to return to standing.

In the video, Martin’s mother performs split squats (a static lunge) with her front foot elevated to increase the range of motion—a good progression to try once you’re comfortable with the regular lunge.

“Lunging mimics everyday movements such as going up the stairs or getting up off the floor,” says Martin. “This exercise will help strengthen your lower body as well as your core, which will help improve your overall balance and stability.”

Upright row

Reps: 8-12

How to do it:

• Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding dumbbells in front of your thighs, palms facing you.
• Lift the dumbbells to your armpits, bending your elbows and moving them out to the sides.
• Slowly lower to the starting position.

“This pulling exercise mimics daily movements such as lifting, carrying and pulling,” says Martin. “It will strengthen your shoulders and upper back and will help improve your posture.”

Heel tap

Reps: 4-6 each side

How to do it:

• Lie on your back with your legs together, knees directly above your hips and bent at 90°.
• Engage your core to keep your lower back on the floor.
• Keeping the 90° bend in your knee throughout, slowly lower your right foot to tap the floor, or as low as you can go without your lower back lifting off the floor.
• Return to the starting position and repeat on the other side.
• Continue, alternating sides with each rep.

“This exercise engages and strengthens your pelvic floor, which supports your spine, lower back and bladder,” says Martin. “It also will help improve your posture.”