Challenges
Quick Win
Sit-ups can help strengthen your core and lower your risk of falling.
Try This Today
- Lie with your back on the floor with knees bent and feet flat on the ground.
- Hold a rolled hand towel behind your neck to support it.
- Raise your head, neck and shoulders several inches off the floor using your ab muscles. Avoid tensing your neck.
- Lower your upper body back down to the floor. Complete 20 repetitions.
Why
Sit-ups help build strength in your core, the center of your body. In a meta-analysis of 10 randomized controlled trials, a combination of core, resistance and balance training effectively lowered risk of falling in adults ages 60 to 95. That exercise combination was most effective in healthy older adults who trained more than five times per week for more than 32 weeks, according to the report published in 2021 in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
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