What’s Better Than Walking, After 60

And before, really:

Step it up

Walking is great—it helps your heart health and maintains fitness as well as boosting your mood. So please do keep walking, if you are able!

However, it doesn’t build meaningful strength, improve reactive balance, or provide enough load to strengthen your bones.

But, who needs those things?

• Why strength matters: low-load activity like walking doesn’t stimulate muscle (re)growth or bone adaptation, which become increasingly important in later life.
• Why balance matters: walking is (usually!) predictable, but real-life falls happen during unexpected movements, so you need to train coordination and reaction.
• Why bone loading matters: bones require impact or resistance to maintain density, and walking alone doesn’t provide a strong enough signal to encourage this.

So, with that in mind, here are three exercises to address these things:

• Squat and press: hold weights at your chest, sit back into a squat, then drive up and press overhead to build full-body strength while stabilizing your core and improving functional movement.
• Obstacle step: step in a controlled pattern over crossed towels on the floor, changing direction and lead foot, to improve your balance, coordination, and agility.
• Heel drops: rise onto your toes, then drop your heels down with control to create safe impact that stimulates bone growth, especially at your hips.

He recommends to combine strength work (2–3 days), balance practice (2–3 days), and bone-loading impact (5–7 days) alongside your regular walking routine—because yes, walking is still good too and brings its own benefits!

For more on all of this plus visual demonstrations, enjoy:

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Want to learn more?

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Walking: Have We Had It Backwards?

Take care!