Denise Austin’s Chair Workouts: The Surprisingly Easy Way to Lose Weight and Tone Up After 50
Easiest exercise ever! The fitness pro reveals how you can lose weight and build muscle while you sit
Exercise often feels intimidating, tiring and difficult. But despite what you’ve always been told, you don’t need to do long, strenuous sessions to get results. You can slim down and build muscle with easy chair workouts in the comfort of your own home. Woman’s World teamed up with fitness icon Denise Austin to show you how to do it. She says, “You have 640 muscles that can be firmed and toned anytime, anywhere. So grab a chair and get started!” Check out her plan below and learn the science behind how seated workouts can work wonders.
What a doctor says about chair workouts
“I really believe that seemingly gentle exercises can add up to real benefits,” says functional medicine expert Jill Carnahan, MD, author of Unexpected. She used to do intense cardio, but the stress of pushing her body so hard wasn’t helping her. She sees this problem play out all the time in her female patients. Why? Overexercising can spike stress hormones, setting off a biochemical chain reaction that damages health and makes us gain belly fat instead of lose it.
Now, Dr. Carnahan likes to say, “When I turned 40, I stopped exercising and I got in the best shape of my life!” How? She finally traded those exhausting workouts for low-intensity ones, sneaking little exercise “snacks” into her routine, adding calf raises while making coffee, arm presses at her desk and squats at the bathroom sink. As a result, she shed 8 percent of her body fat. And you can do the same—without even standing up.
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“Easy chair exercises are a perfect gateway to more fitness. They are safe, gentle on joints and stable for balance,” says Dr. Carnahan. “Plus, we all have a chair. We all have access to the equipment.” And it’s surprising how much you can accomplish with just a sturdy chair: from yoga and weight training to toe tapping and cardio arm waving.
The science behind chair workouts
Chair exercise easily accomplishes two of the three pillars of a well-rounded medical fitness regimen: toning and flexibility. The third piece is cardio, which Denise says you can get by moving more in your chair or taking a walk after your seated exercises.
That’s not all: New research finds that any type of muscle contraction reduces inflammation, which is known to drive weight gain and disease. So if you squeeze your buttock muscles for five seconds while watching TV on the couch, you’re already benefiting. Even something as easy as doing seated calf raises is proven to reduce blood-sugar spikes by 52 percent to help block weight gain and metabolism slowdowns.
And people with arthritis who did chair yoga two times per week saw significant decreases in fatigue and pain, according to a 2017 study. In addition, British Medical Journal research showed retirees who strengthened their legs for one year saw health benefits that lasted for four years.
Small movements = big results
This chair-workout approach doesn’t take long to get the benefits, no matter your fitness level. “Unlike cardio that takes at least 12 minutes for benefits to kick in, toning exercises only need 30 seconds,” says Denise.
“That’s the beauty of muscle conditioning. A minute here, a minute there. It all accumulates to help firm up and strengthen your body.” She adds, “Your muscles don’t know if you’re in a fancy gym or right in your own home.”
Why women over 50 benefit from chair workouts
These moves are ideal for women over 50, who start to lose one to two percent of their muscle tissue each year. Indeed, we’re at risk of conditions like sarcopenia (muscle loss), osteoporosis (bone loss) and frailty (strength loss). What’s more, low skeletal muscle was found to be a major cause of chronic pain in research published in Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine.
Denise promises, “This plan will strengthen and tone, while improving flexibility, stability, balance, circulation and energy.” And then there are the secondary benefits: weight loss. “Muscles work miracles on metabolism,” she says. “The more muscles you have, the more calories you burn—even at rest!”
Denise Austin’s favorite chair workouts
To see the toning, strengthening and weight-loss benefits of chair exercises for yourself, try two sets of 10 reps for each of these moves at least three times per week. Dr. Carnahan says, “You’re going to build strength and confidence!”
To get awesome arms: Tricep dips
Set your hands on the edge of your chair seat, then slowly bend your elbows to lower your body toward the floor. Straighten your arms to return to the start position, with your butt level to the chair seat. Bonus move: Turn around and do assisted push-ups on the seat to activate your entire upper body.
To firm your butt and boost balance: Power squats
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Bend your knees and lower until your butt hovers over your chair seat. Squeeze your core and butt muscles, then return to standing. Repeat. Alternative: If your balance is shaky, try this while holding on to the back of a chair for support.
To strengthen your back and shoulders: One-arm rows
Place your left hand on the chair seat. Let your right arm hang with a small hand weight or soup can. Then pull the dangling arm up toward your armpit as if you were pulling a lawn mower starter cord. Continue lifting then lowering your arm. Then switch sides and repeat.
To tone your tush and legs: Seated leg lifts
On a sturdy chair or stability ball, extend one leg straight out in front of you. Hold, then flex your foot and thigh. Lower and repeat on the other side. Bonus move: With both feet flat on the floor, lift your heels to balance on your tiptoes in a seated calf raise, then lower and repeat.
To shrink your waist: DIY ‘tummy tuck’
Denise calls her favorite chair exercise the DIY “tummy tuck.” Simply concentrate on your core muscles by trying to maintain good posture whenever seated. It can be done discreetly anywhere: work, home, a car, a restaurant. To do: Engage your core muscles for five seconds at a time, then release.
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