Squats after 60
Getting out of a chair is a squat, and how well you do it turns out to correlate with a lot. This page covers what that research actually establishes, what it does not, and what the training evidence in older adults looks like — because this is the corner of squat content where overclaiming is most common and least excusable.
Not medical advice. This is general fitness information and a summary of published research, not a training or treatment plan for any individual. Progress gradually and stop if you feel pain. If you have a knee, hip, back, heart or blood-pressure condition, are pregnant, or you’re new to exercise, talk to a doctor or a qualified coach before you start. The terms have the fine print. If you have had a fall, feel unsteady, or have a heart, joint or blood-pressure condition, get a proper assessment before starting. Nothing here is a substitute for a clinician who can watch you move.
What chair-stand performance predicts
Two findings, both worth knowing and both easy to overread.
- A study of 18,252 older adults with hypertension across 28 countries found chair-stand performance gradually and inversely associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality.1
- In the Toledo Study for Healthy Aging (n=1,876), men with low relative 30-second sit-to-stand power carried a 57% higher all-cause mortality risk than men with normal power.2
Both are observational, and that word is doing a lot of work. A slow chair stand is a good marker of overall frailty — it bundles strength, balance, joint health, cardiovascular fitness and whatever else is going on. Nobody has shown that training the movement moves the mortality number. The honest version is: this is a strong reason to care about leg strength as you age, and it is not a promise that a squat habit buys you years.
The sitting-rising test deserves a specific warning. You will see it framed as “one test predicts how long you’ll live”. The underlying data is real — adults aged 51 to 80 scoring lowest were five to six times likelier to die within about six years than the highest scorers. But the broader claim that it predicts mortality across all age groups is not supported by the literature.3 It captures a composite of strength, balance and flexibility in a specific mid-life-and-older cohort. It is not an expiry date, and the viral version of it is worse than the research.
The test that is actually validated
If you want to measure yourself, use the 30-Second Chair Stand Test rather than a squat-rep count. It is the real clinical instrument: normed on 7,183 community-dwelling adults aged 60 to 94 in five-year bands, part of the Senior Fitness Test battery, and republished by clinical bodies ever since.4
The protocol matters. Roughly a 17-inch chair, arms crossed over the chest, count full stands in 30 seconds. Note that it does not require reaching thigh-parallel — standing fully upright is enough — and it is capped at 30 seconds rather than run to failure. That makes it an easier movement on a fixed clock, which is why its numbers are not squat-rep numbers and should not be compared to squat benchmark tables.
For context at the other end of life, healthy 19-to-35-year-olds averaged 33.0 ± 5.4 reps in the same 30 seconds.5
What training actually did
The interventional evidence in older adults is thinner than the observational evidence but points the right way. A six-week mechanically assisted squat programme in 30 elderly women — three sessions a week, 30 minutes each — improved grip strength, knee-extensor strength and three-minute walking distance, and improved forced vital capacity specifically in the sarcopenic subgroup.6 The lung-function result is the unexpected one, plausibly via trunk and postural muscle function.
Small trial, assisted squat rather than bodyweight. But the direction — that a squat-pattern programme improves strength and walking capacity in exactly the population that needs it — is unsurprising and consistent.
On bone: resistance training raises bone mineral density by about 0.64% at the hip and 0.62% at the spine, with high-velocity training producing 0.9–5.4% gains, requiring at least two sessions a week and lost after more than six months off.7 That literature is built on barbells and machines, though, and extending it to unloaded bodyweight squats is a mechanistic guess rather than a tested finding. We are flagging it rather than claiming it.
Starting from where you are
The bracket that matters most here is also the one with the weakest data — no practical source splits past “60+” or “65+”, so the 70+ benchmark row is extrapolated from the chair-stand decline curve rather than measured. Treat it accordingly.
| Stage | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Chair stands | Sit to stand from a dining chair, arms crossed. 2 sets of 5–10, daily. Hands on the seat if you need them |
| Box squats | Squat down to touch the chair without sitting, then stand. 2–3 sets of 8–10, 2–3×/week |
| Supported squats | Hold a doorframe or counter, squat as deep as is comfortable. 2–3 sets of 10 |
| Free squats | Unsupported, to whatever depth you have with heels down. 2–3 sets near — not to — failure, twice a week |
Two sets taken close to failure twice a week satisfies WHO muscle-strengthening guidance,8 which an estimated 10–30% of adults meet. That is the whole target. It is smaller than most people fear.
Cautions that are specific rather than generic
- Isometric holds and blood pressure. The wall-sit blood-pressure effect is real, but acute pressure rises during a hold are largest in middle-aged and older adults and in people who already have hypertension.9 Never hold your breath. Get clearance first if your blood pressure is uncontrolled. The full protocol and its caveats →
- Have something to hold. Balance, not strength, is what usually ends a squat in this bracket, and a hand on a counter costs nothing.
- Osteoarthritis is not a reason to stop. Therapeutic exercise including strengthening is a core recommended treatment for osteoarthritis, offered to everyone with it.10 The knee evidence →
- Depth is negotiable here. Elsewhere on this site we argue hard for full depth, and for good reason. But a comfortable partial squat you do twice a week beats a full-depth one you avoid.
Are squats safe for older adults?
Generally yes, and squat-pattern training is well supported in this population — a six-week assisted squat programme in elderly women improved knee-extensor strength, grip strength and walking distance. Start supported, from a chair if needed, and get an assessment first if you have had a fall, feel unsteady, or have a heart, joint or blood-pressure condition.
Does the chair stand test predict how long you will live?
It correlates with mortality, which is not the same thing. A 28-country study of 18,252 older adults found chair-stand performance inversely associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, and one cohort found 57 percent higher mortality risk in men with low sit-to-stand power. Both are observational: a slow chair stand marks overall frailty, and no study has shown that training the movement changes the outcome.
How many chair stands should a 70 year old be able to do?
Use the validated test rather than a squat count. The 30-Second Chair Stand Test, normed on 7,183 adults aged 60 to 94, places the average band for men aged 70 to 74 at roughly 12 to 17 stands in 30 seconds. Note the protocol: a roughly 17-inch chair, arms crossed, 30 seconds, and no requirement to reach thigh-parallel.
How often should older adults do squats?
Two sessions a week of two or three sets taken close to failure meets World Health Organization muscle-strengthening guidance, which only an estimated 10 to 30 percent of adults currently manage. More supports faster progress; two days a week is the target that matters.
Should I squat if I have knee arthritis?
Ask a clinician what it should look like for you, but do not assume the answer is no. Therapeutic exercise including muscle strengthening is a core recommended treatment for osteoarthritis under NICE guidance, offered to everyone with the condition rather than withheld to protect the joint.
Sources
- Association of chair-stand performance with mortality in older adults with hypertension across 28 countries. 2025, n=18,252. Chair-stand performance was gradually and inversely associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. Observational — it tracks frailty, it does not prove that training the movement changes the outcome.
- Toledo Study for Healthy Aging, n=1,876. Men with low relative 30-second sit-to-stand power carried a 57% higher all-cause mortality risk than men with normal power. Observational, and confounded by overall frailty.
- Sitting-rising test — de Brito et al. found adults aged 51–80 scoring lowest (0–3 of 10) were five to six times likelier to die within about six years than those scoring 8–10. The same summary notes that broader claims about predicting mortality across all age groups are not supported by the literature.
- Rikli RE, Jones CJ. Development and validation of a functional fitness test for community-residing older adults. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, 1999;7(2):129–161. The Senior Fitness Test battery, including the 30-second chair stand, normed on 7,183 adults aged 60–94. A validated clinical test — but a seated start, a 30-second cap and no depth requirement, so its numbers are not squat-rep numbers.
- Lein DH, et al. Normative values for the 30-second chair stand test in healthy young adults. International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, 2022;17(5):907–914, n=81, ages 19–35: 33.0±5.4 reps in 30 seconds; 34.0±5.2 for the more active subgroup versus 31.5±5.5 for the less active (p=0.04).
- Chen H-T, et al. Effects of a squat exercise programme on muscle strength, walking capacity and lung function in elderly women with sarcopenia. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2018, n=30, three sessions a week for six weeks. Grip strength, knee-extensor strength and three-minute walking distance all improved; forced vital capacity improved specifically in the sarcopenic subgroup (p=0.019). A mechanically assisted squat, not bodyweight.
- Effect of resistance training on bone mineral density in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Resistance training raised bone mineral density by 0.64% at the hip and 0.62% at the spine versus controls; high-velocity resistance training produced 0.9–5.4% gains at the lumbar spine, total hip and femoral neck. Benefit needed at least two sessions a week and was lost after more than six months off. This literature is built on loaded training — barbells and machines — not bodyweight squats.
- World Health Organization, Guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour, 2020. Muscle-strengthening activity involving all major muscle groups on at least two days a week, for all adults; an estimated 10–30% of adults actually meet it.
- Chrysant SG. Current evidence on the hemodynamic and blood pressure effects of isometric exercise. Journal of Clinical Hypertension, 2010. Blood pressure rises more sharply during an isometric hold than during dynamic exercise of similar relative effort, and more so in men, in middle-aged and older adults, and in people who already have hypertension — the reason breath-holding is the thing to avoid.
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, Osteoarthritis in over 16s: diagnosis and management (NG226), 2022. Therapeutic exercise — including muscle strengthening — is a core recommended treatment for osteoarthritis, to be offered to everyone with the condition.