Age is no barrier to exercise. At any age, you can see improvement in your strength, balance, stamina, flexibility and more importantly the mental health benefits of exercise should never be underestimated.
Watch our Introduction to exercise video to find out why regular exercise is important for preventing falls, and to hear how others have used exercise to help.
Visit the Telecare Self-Check online tool to find the right support for you in your area. This easy to use online tool allows you to find helpful information on telecare services that could help you live independently at home for longer.
Before attempting any of these exercises, it’s important to pick the level that most suits you.
Watch our video to find out how good your balance is and at what level of exercise you should start.
Before you start, just a few simple things to remember:
To find out which level to start on, try standing on one leg for 30 seconds while holding on to a chair or table for support. When you’re ready, try to let go:
Visit the Telecare Self-Check online tool to find the right support for you in your area. This easy to use online tool allows you to find helpful information on telecare services that could help you live independently at home for longer.
These exercises will help to improve your strength and balance, and build your confidence if you’ve weak muscles or poor balance.
Watch our level 1 exercise video to learn how to do these exercises and how often you should practice them.
To start with, try each exercise 2 or 3 times and slowly increase the repetitions as you build strength and confidence. For example, in a couple of days you might repeat each exercise 5 times, working up to 10 repetitions in a couple of week’s time.
After this time you’ll notice the difference, you’ll see your balance and strength improving, and feel ready to join a group or class to build on these exercises.
When using a chair or kitchen counter for support, you could start by either:
If you’re feeling particularly confident, hold your hand just above, but have a chair nearby just in case.
You will need support when doing these exercises so find something in your house that’s safe and secure for you to hold on to. Your kitchen counter or a solid chair are good.
Easy marching is a good way to warm up, and keep your circulation flowing, before any exercise.
To easy march:
As you warm up, you may feel that you want to raise your knees a little bit higher for a more purposeful march.
Trunk movements help to improve the flexibility of your spine.
To do these movements:
Knee strengthening exercises will help you to maintain strength in the muscle at the front of your leg.
To strengthen the knee:
Hip-strengthening exercises can help to build good leg muscle strength, which will help you get out of the car, or bath, more easily.
To strengthen your hip:
Calf or heel raises help to build strength in your ankles. Strong ankles are important as they’re first thing that keeps us upright.
To do a calf or heel raise:
Toe raises can help to strengthen the muscles at the front of our feet, which are often weak. These muscles are important as they help to lift our feet over obstacles.
To do a toe raise:
Each time you do this, keep your stomach muscles tight and your bottom in. It’s normal to wobble as you practice toe raises.
Moving from sitting to standing is a core exercise that will help to improve your strength and balance. You can do this anywhere in your home, but make sure you’ve got a solid chair.
There are 3 handholds, you could either:
To sit to stand:
As you repeat these, you’ll find that your leg muscles start to get quite warm and perhaps a little bit tense. That’s quite normal and shows that it’s working the muscles.
Visit the Telecare Self-Check online tool to find the right support for you in your area. This easy to use online tool allows you to find helpful information on telecare services that could help you live independently at home for longer.
These exercises will help to improve your confidence, muscle strength and balance.
Watch our level 2 exercise video to learn how to do these exercises and how often you should practice them.
To start with, try each exercise 2 or 3 times and slowly increase the repetitions as you build strength and confidence. For example, in a couple of days you might repeat each exercise 5 times, working up to 10 repetitions in a couple of week’s time.
After this time you’ll notice the difference, you’ll see your balance and strength improving, and you feel ready to join a group or class to build on these exercises.
When using a chair or table for support, you could start by either:
If you’re feeling particularly confident, hold your hand just above, but have a chair nearby just in case.
You will need support when doing these exercises so find something in your house that’s safe and secure for you to hold on to. Your kitchen counter or a solid chair are good.
Easy marching is a good way to warm up, and keep your circulation flowing, before any exercise.
To easy march:
As you warm up, you may feel that you want to raise your knees a little bit higher for a more purposeful march.
It’s important to maintain flexibility at the ankles, so you can cope with uneven pavements.
To move the ankles:
Knee strengthening exercises will help you to maintain strength in the muscle at the back of your leg. This exercise can be done with or without ankle weights. Hold on to a chair or counter to make sure your balance is good.
To strengthen the knee:
Knee bends work the muscles at the front of your thigh. Hold on to a chair or counter for support.
To do a knee bend:
An effective way to improve balance is to reduce the base of support (the amount of space that your feet take up on the floor). When practising heel-toe standing, make sure that you hold on to a chair or counter to start with. If you can, try to reduce your handhold so that the hand is just above the chair.
To do heel-toe standing:
Heel-toe walking builds on heel-toe standing by including a movement forward. When practising heel-toe walking, make sure that you hold on to a chair or counter to start with.
To do heel-toe standing:
Sideways walking is another important balance exercise.
To do a sideways walk:
If you can, reduce the handhold over time.
Moving from sitting to standing is a core exercise that’ll help to improve your strength and balance. You can do this anywhere in your home, but make sure you’ve got a solid chair.
There are 3 handholds, you could either:
To sit to stand:
As you repeat these, you’ll find that your leg muscles start to get quite warm and perhaps a little bit tense. That’s quite normal and shows that it’s working the muscles.
Visit the Telecare Self-Check online tool to find the right support for you in your area. This easy to use online tool allows you to find helpful information on telecare services that could help you live independently at home for longer.
These exercises will help to improve your strength and balance further if your balance and muscle strength is already quite good.
Watch our level 3 exercise video to learn how to do these exercises and how often you should practice them.
To start with, try each exercise 2 or 3 times and slowly increase the repetitions as you build strength and confidence. For example, in a couple of days you might repeat each exercise 5 times, working up to 10 repetitions in a couple of week’s time.
After this time you’ll notice the difference, you’ll see your balance and strength improving, and you feel ready to join a group or class to build on these exercises.
When using a chair or kitchen counter for support, you could start by either:
If you’re feeling particularly confident, hold your hand just above, but have a chair nearby just in case.
You will need support when doing these exercises so find something in your house that’s safe and secure for you to hold on to. Your kitchen counter or a solid chair are good.
Easy marching is a good way to warm up, and keep your circulation flowing, before any exercise.
To easy march:
As you warm up, you may feel that you want to raise your knees a little bit higher for a more purposeful march.
It’s important to maintain flexibility at the ankles, so you can cope with uneven pavements.
To move the ankles:
Toe raises can help to strengthen the muscles at the front of our feet, which are often weak. These muscles are important as they help to lift our feet over obstacles.
To do a toe raise:
Each time you do this, keep your stomach muscles tight and your bottom in. It’s normal to wobble as you practice toe raises.
Toe walking is another important balance exercise.
To toe walk:
This balance exercise is a bit more difficult. Make sure that you’ve got a good solid support to hold on to.
To heel walk:
Moving from sitting to standing is a core exercise that’ll help to improve your strength and balance. You can do this anywhere in your home, but make sure you’ve got a solid chair.
There are 3 handholds, you could either:
To sit to stand:
Visit the Telecare Self-Check online tool to find the right support for you in your area. This easy to use online tool allows you to find helpful information on telecare services that could help you live independently at home for longer.
Last updated:
14 March 2023