Hip Exercises for Seniors | SilverSneakers

Having healthy hips means maintaining great mobility, strength, and flexibility from your feet to your shoulders. In this workout, we'll have fun playing in all those modalities for healthy hips. And the fun continues in our virtual live classes offered every day at SilverSneakers.com. We have an incredible daily schedule with live classes led by a phenomenal team of trainers who understand healthy aging. Take a moment to see if you're eligible to participate with us in one of our live classes. Feel free to grab a chair if you'd like to have it nearby for a little stability. And let's begin with a little walk. Lift your chest up tall. Roll your shoulders back and down. Gentle fists. Eight more, and we'll switch with a little tempo variation. Four, three, lift this heel up nice and slow. We lift and switch. Think about shifting your weight side to side. Push and pull through your heel. Four, three, just pick up the pace a little bit. That's it. Keep that push and pull. We'll do eight, seven. All right. All I need you to do is go back to that slow tempo. Slow things down. Here we go. Four, three, two, pick up the pace. Eight, seven, six. Slow things down. Four, three, two, pick up the pace. Perfect. Anchor your feet down. Hip circles. I'm going to make my feet just a little bit wider apart. Push your hips to the side. Forward, side, and back. Do a couple more. All right. Let's come back to center. Come up nice and tall. Shoulders back. This heel goes up slow. Switch. Good. Again, find that little rhythm. Switching side to side. Four, three, just a little bit faster, please. Push and pull through the heels. Eight, four, three, slow things down. We go four, three, two. A little bit quicker. One more time. Slow things down. Speed it up. Anchor your feet down. Hip circles. Bend your knees. Push your hips around. Do that a couple times. Last time. We're up nice and tall. Walk right and left. Rhythm change is coming. Tap right, then left. Draw your elbows back. Lift your knee up. Chair's right there if you'd like to hold on to it. We've got two knees on this side. Now give me three knees. Hold the third one up. Don't go anywhere. Open this leg out and bring it back in. And let's do that again. We're going to go out and in. Think about opening a door and closing a door. Rock step back. This foot goes back and in. Now switch. Think about lifting your elbows up. Get a full body stretch. Front of your hips. That's it. All right, let's do two more and put those last two moves together. Open the door, then close it. Do it again on this side. Rock step back. Put it all together from the top. Tap four, three, two. Knee goes up. Two knees this side. Then switch. Three knees this side. Hold the third. Find your balance. We open, then close. One more and rock step back. Could you walk on this foot, please? Just walk. All right, let's build it on this side. Four, three. Just tap left, right. This knee goes up, then switch. You choose how high, okay? Two knees this side, then switch. Three knees and hold. Here we go. Three, two, hold. Open and close. Think about bringing your toe out to the side, then come back into center. We'll do one more. This foot, rock step back. Shift your weight back and in. That's it. I love this. Nice stretch for the front part of our hips. One more each side. Let's put it all together. Tap left, right. Four, three, two. Knees up. Two knees, then switch. Three knees and hold. Find your balance. Hold on if you need to and then open. Close. One more. Rock step back. Switch. One more each side. Perfect. Anchor your feet center. We're going to open heel, then toe. Do it again. Heel, then toe. And then I'm going to open this toe out. Chest is up. I'm going to sink straight down. My knees are about the middle of my feet. Squeeze my inner thighs. Come on up. Let's do it again. Down and up. Now I'm not looking for depth here, although you can go as low as you're comfortable going, but I want you to think about gently squeezing your inner thighs as you come back up. And you can place yourself behind the chair so that you can hold on. That's totally fine. We'll do that again. All right. Two more. Gentle squeeze. Yeah, this is great work for the adductors, inner thigh muscles. Pause. Bring toe in. Heel in. Toe in. All right. We're just going to walk this out. Anchor your feet down on this side. Hold on to the chair. Toe comes out to the side. I'm going to lift and I'm going to lower. We'll do two more slow. I have to anchor this side. I'm going to lead with my heel. Choose the desired height. And let's pick up the pace. Just four more. Feet come down. Push your hips back. Counterbalance with the arms forward. Draw in and up. Push hips back. It's just a narrow squat. That's it. Push and pull. One more time. All right. I'm going to anchor again on this side. This toe is going to go back. Arms are forward. Arm comes up. Opposite arm, opposite leg. Lift your right toes up and reach back and then place everything down. Lift up and back and down. Height is not what's important here. Just a little lift. Keep your spine lengthened and chest up. Yeah. Two more, please. We lift and we release. One more time. And then everything comes down. Roll your shoulders back. One more time. All right. Let's do it all on this side. Fan your heel out. Then your toe. That's it. Nice open and close with the hip. Toes are out. Even out your weight. We come down slow. Then gently squeeze and rise. Down and up. Now, if you want to go lower, you might make your feet a little wider. It's a little trickier to get your balance when your feet are real wide. So just find what's right for you. We're going to push down and squeeze in and up. One more. All right. My weight's on this side. I'm going to fan my toe in and then my heel. Hold on for a little stability. All right. And then walk that in. Anchor down on this side. Toe goes out. Chest is up. We lift and we lower. Lead with your heel. Lift and lower. Good. Belly buttons in. That just helps support your low back. It's just awareness. That's what's most important. All right. One more at this tempo. We're going to pick up the pace. You ready? Lift and lower. Lift, lower. Four more, please. Feet come down. Little narrow squat. Hips push back. Arms are out in front. Everything draws in and up. Push and pull. Two to go. Press down on your big toes. All right. This toe goes back. Arms are forward. Holding on to the chair. Opposite arm's going to lift up. Pause. Everything lifts up and back and down. We'll try that again. Lift up and back and down. That's it. Lift, release. Just two more. That's all we need. Nice and easy. Get the backside of our hip one more time. All right. Everything comes in and down. Right arm's going to sweep out, up. Think about stretching up. Opposite arm is down. And if it's right for your hips, we're going to lean to the side. Got to think what's right for our spine, too. Everything's going to come up, out, and down. And we're just going to switch sides, please. Up, over, reach, and then lift and release. I'm going to open my feet a little bit wider. Hip circles. Ah, that's a great way to end class. Woo. All right. Pause wherever you are and go the other way. Bend your knees. That's it. Feel the stretch in the sides of your hips, the front and the back. One more time. Come back to center. All right. Left arm's going to come out and up. You choose if you want to add that little side lean. Think about stretching from your shoulder through your hip. Push your hip gently to the side. Come up, sweep down. We're going to go to the other side. You're also welcome to just reach up and down. That's great for the spine. A little bit more for the hip if that's right for you. We're going to come up, out, and down. And then those hip circles. Ah, yeah. Around we go. Pause wherever you are. Go the other way. All right. Come back to center. Lift your chest up. Roll your shoulders back. Step in. And let's finish with a little walk. Great job. I know my hips are smiling after that workout. I hope yours are, too. Don't forget to hit the subscribe button because you don't want to miss any of our workouts. I'll see you next time.