For people of any age, size, or gender!
Always consult with your doctor before starting a new exercise program.
The following exercises can be done at home; all you need is a stable chair and a light pair of dumbbells (1 or 2 kg).
No dumbbells? No problem! Just use two full small water bottles (0.5 kg each). If the exercises get easier, invest in some heavier weights.
At Alma health, we recommend patients to start slow, know their limits, and listen to their body. If you follow these simple rules, you will have a safe and enjoyable exercise.
Today’s chair exercises rank as ‘Easy’ in difficulty. For medium difficulty chair exercises, check out our next blog.
Warmup
March in place
- Sit with your feet slightly apart
- Keep your back straight and chest up
- Hold on to the edge of the seat with both hands or rest your arms on the armrests
- Start marching: lift one knee up as high as possible, and return to the starting position, then repeat with the other knee
- If you can safely balance yourself, you can move your arms along with your knees to make the exercise more challenging
Do this for 60 seconds. Repeat 3 times
As you get better, try to march for 5 minutes straight
Arm circles
- Sit in a chair with your back straight
- Extend your arms straight out to your sides at shoulder height. Make sure to keep your arms and shoulders lower than your ears
- Do 20 small backward circles
- Switch directions and do 20 forward circles
Repeat 3 times
Now that you are warmed up, let’s get started
For each exercise, start by doing 3 sets of 10 repetitions
1. Shoulder press
- While holding the weights (dumbbells or water bottles) in each hand, sit on a chair with your back straight and place the weights on top of your thighs
- Raise the weights to shoulder height. Rotate your wrists with the palms of your hands facing forward. This is your starting position
- Exhale and push the dumbbells upward until they almost touch at the top
- After a brief pause, slowly lower the weights back down to the starting position while inhaling
2. Bicep Curls
- While holding the weights (dumbbells or water bottles) in each hand, sit on a chair with your back straight, chest up, elbows at your sides, and palms facing you
- Exhale and flex your arms toward your shoulder while keeping your wrists straight.
- Slowly lower your arms, making sure your elbows are pointed toward the floor, while inhaling.
3. Calf Raises
- Sit with your back straight and chest up
- Hold on to the edge of the seat with both hands or rest your arms on the armrests
- Keep both legs at a 90 degree angle with the chair, with feet flat on the floor
- Slowly push the toes of both feet on the ground while lifting the heels up
- Lower your heals back to the starting position
4. Knee Extensions
- Sit with your feet slightly apart
- Keep your back straight and chest up
- Hold on to the edge of the seat with both hands or rest your arms on the armrests
- Slowly straighten your right knee, lifting your foot until it is straight out in front of you, with your toes pointing toward the ceiling.
- Lower your leg to the starting position, and repeat with the left leg
5. Squats
- Sit comfortably in the chair toward the edge of the seat with toes pointing slightly outward
- Keep both hands in front of the body for balance
- Slowly sit up from the chair until fully standing.
- You can squeeze your glutes when you are standing for extra toning
- Sit back down to starting position, making sure knees never bend inwards
Important notes for this exercise
- If you have balance issues, or you get dizzy when changing positions, please skip this exercise
- When sitting at the edge of the chair, be careful not to fall over, or ask someone to stand next to you while you perform this exercise
- It’s important that your toes are pointed slightly outward and your knees also point outwards when you change from a seated to a standing position
- Use your hips, NOT your knees to push yourself up from the chair
6. Abdominal Curls
- Sit comfortably with your hips toward the front edge of the seat without feeling like falling over
- Lean back so that your upper back is supported by the chair
- Hold on to the edge of the seat with both hands or rest your arms on the armrests
- Extend your legs, with your knees slightly bent, heels on the floor, and toes up
- Cross your right ankle over your left and keep your abs tight.
- Slowly lift your feet 5 to 8 cm off the floor. You should use your abs, NOT your hips to do that
- After a brief pause, slowly lower your legs to the starting position, and repeat with the left ankle crossed over the right ankle
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