Five chair moves for stronger hips after 65, no gym machines required.
Most people could use stronger hips. Strong hips help you climb stairs and stand up and after sitting down. But as you age, hip muscles dwindle away, especially for those who live a sedentary lifestyle. Prolonged sitting leads to muscle loss and excess hip tightness. A modern lifestyle includes mostly sitting: sitting at meal times, in front of the computer, at a desk, or in the car. I’ve worked with many clients 65 and older who thought they needed a gym membership or fancy machines to strengthen their hips and reverse the aging process. But you can actually get better results from simple chair exercises at home.
The hips need to be trained from multiple angles, not just one. This is because the hip moves in multiple directions. The muscles surrounding them help extend your legs, move them sideways, stabilize your pelvis, and keep your body steady whenever you stand on one leg.
The following chair-based exercises together help strengthen your hips more than just a single gym machine. In addition, all these exercises offer an accessible way to train the hip musculature and the surrounding muscles. Strong hips are often the differentiator when it comes to someone who can continue activity after 65 and someone who struggles to keep up with life’s demands. These five exercises target the glutes, hip flexors, outer hips, and supporting muscles while reinforcing practical movement.
Seated Knee Drives
Seated Knee Drives strengthen the hip flexor muscles. The hip flexors are responsible for lifting your legs as you walk. I like using this seated variation because it allows you to learn the movement without having to worry about the balance aspect of standing. You can also focus on each hip individually as you raise it into the air. Keep an upright posture and avoid using upper body momentum to help you raise your legs. You want to really isolate the hip flexors and perform quality repetitions.
How to Do It
- Sit near the front of a sturdy chair.
- Keep both feet flat on the floor.
- Sit tall and keep your core tight.
- Lift one knee toward your chest.
- Pause briefly at the top.
- Lower your foot slowly.
- Alternate legs.
- Perform 12 to 15 repetitions per side.
Seated Hip Abductions
Your hip abductors keep your pelvis stable as you walk. If they’re weak, balance becomes much more challenging. If your body can’t control its side to side motion, this can lead to a fall. Seated Hip Abductions offer a challenging way to strengthen your outer hip muscles while using the stability of the chair. Keep a controlled motion as you open and close the legs. As the legs return to their original position it’s easy to let the resistance band pull your legs in instead of completely controlling the motion with your abductor muscles. I recommend using a five-second count on the way in to prevent this. You can also slightly turn the knees inward to really activate the abductors as you move your legs outward.
How to Do It
- Sit tall with your feet flat.
- Place your hands on your thighs or hold a resistance band around your legs.
- Keep your torso upright.
- Move your legs outward.
- Pause briefly.
- Return them toward the center with control.
- Complete 12 to 15 repetitions.
Seated Hip March with Resistance
Once basic knee drives become comfortable, adding resistance creates a greater challenge for the hip flexors and core, allowing you to further strengthen your hips. A resistance band positioned around your thighs forces each leg to work harder as you lift it. I like this variation because it also teaches your pelvis to remain stable while one leg moves independently. That stability carries over directly into walking and stepping over obstacles. Start with light resistance and focus on maintaining perfect posture throughout every repetition before moving to higher resistance bands.
How to Do It
- Sit tall in a sturdy chair.
- Place a light resistance band around your thighs.
- Keep your feet planted.
- Lift one knee against the band’s resistance.
- Lower slowly.
- Alternate legs.
- Perform 10 to 12 repetitions per side.
Chair-Supported Hip Extensions
Your glutes serve as some of the most powerful muscles around the hips, helping propel your body forward every time you walk, climb stairs, or sit up. Chair-supported hip extensions isolate the movement without requiring you to balance independently. I often use this exercise with clients who need to rebuild strength from the beginning before progressing to more demanding standing exercises. Keep your torso upright and move the leg backward from the hip rather than arching your lower back. You’ll feel the glute working without putting unnecessary stress on your spine.
How to Do It
- Stand behind a sturdy chair.
- Hold the chair lightly with both hands.
- Keep your torso upright.
- Move one leg straight backward.
- Squeeze the glute at the end of the movement.
- Return slowly.
- Avoid arching your lower back.
- Complete 12 to 15 repetitions per side.
Chair Sit-to-Stands
I always include sit-to-stands when the goal involves stronger hips because they combine hip extension with necessary functional lower-body strength. Your glutes must generate force to move your body from sitting to standing, while the thighs and core help control the entire movement. This pattern also mirrors one of the most important movements you perform throughout the day: standing up. I encourage clients to press through their heels and squeeze their glutes as they reach the standing position to help maximize results. As your hips become stronger, chairs, stairs, and longer walks will all tend to feel easier.
How to Do It
- Sit near the front of a sturdy chair.
- Place your feet about shoulder-width apart.
- Lean your torso forward slightly.
- Drive through your feet to stand.
- Squeeze your glutes at the top.
- Lower yourself slowly.
- Repeat for 10 to 15 repetitions.
Tyler Read, BSc, CPT
