One Step Up

A strength-training programme for people over 50 who are starting from scratch, done at home with things you already have.

You need no gym, no dumbbells and no exercise clothes. You use a sturdy chair, a wall, the kitchen counter, the bottom of your stairs and a couple of shopping bags filled with water bottles. The book assumes you know nothing about exercise. It explains what strength training is, what the US and UK guidelines actually ask for, and how to do every move.

The idea

The programme is built on nine everyday jobs: standing up from a chair, pushing, picking things up, pulling, stepping up, reaching overhead, carrying, balancing, and getting down to the floor and back up. Each job is a ladder of five steps, from easiest to hardest. For example, Push starts against a wall, moves to the kitchen counter, and ends with your hands on the stairs. In Week 0 you find your own step on each ladder. After that, one simple rule tells you when to move up: twelve good reps in every set, two sessions running.

What you will be able to do

• Take two checks the CDC uses, the 30-second chair stand and the 4-stage balance test, and repeat them in Weeks 6 and 12 to see your own numbers change.
• Do the same session twice a week, about 20 to 45 minutes depending on the week, and know exactly which version of each move to do.
• Judge how hard to work with an effort dial that asks how many more good reps you could have done, so you are never working until you fail.
• Tell normal muscle effort from pain that means change something, and know what to do in each case.
• Practise getting up from the floor safely, learned backwards from the chair (a method physiotherapists call backward chaining), with someone nearby at first.

What is inside

• Nine ladders, each on two pages. A large photograph with numbered points, how to do one rep, the five steps, checks, what to do if it hurts or does not fit, and where to go after Step 5.
• The 12-week plan: Learn (Weeks 1 to 2), Build (Weeks 3 to 6) and Grow (Weeks 7 to 12), plus a warm-up, a cool-down, a sample week, and what to do after a missed week, illness or a flare-up.
• Three worked examples followed through the whole book, from their Week 0 checks to Week 12. They are made-up readers: Maureen (71, arthritic knees), Tony (58, desk job, back twinges) and Grace (64, a stiff shoulder). You see their log pages, the times the rule moved them up, and the times they stepped back.
• A safety page: when to check with your doctor first, and when to stop. US and UK terms and phone numbers are given side by side.
• Numbered sources: the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, CDC, NHS and NHS inform guidance, and published research.

What you download

• One Step Up (58 pages, PDF, US Letter, color), with bookmarks and a contents page.
• Logs, US Letter and Logs, A4 (14 pages each, PDF): the test card, a session card for the fridge, and a log page for each of the 12 weeks, ready to print. The same pages are also at the back of the book.

Good to know

• This is health information, not medical advice. If you have a heart or lung condition, have had a recent fall, operation or fracture, have osteoporosis, or have pain that is getting worse, check with your doctor before starting. The book lists these cases.
• Weights are given in kilograms and pounds. US words come first, with UK words alongside.
• This is a PDF download. No physical book is shipped.