Exercise For Over 60s: Is Yoga Safe, What It Builds, And How To Start Without Getting Hurt
Exercise for over 60s: the short answer
The best exercise for over 60s builds four things at once: leg strength, balance, bone and the confidence to keep moving. Yoga, taught well, does all four, and it is safe to start in your 60s, 70s or later. In a 2023 review of 33 studies with 2,384 older people, yoga gave faster walking and stronger, longer-lasting legs. Iyengar and chair-based yoga were the styles used most.
The key is a class built for real bodies, with props and a teacher who adjusts. Here is the article in short form:
- Strength drops about 1% a year in your 50s, faster later.
- Weak legs triple the odds of falling again and again.
- 33 studies: yoga gave faster walking and stronger legs.
- A Sydney Iyengar trial improved balance in 12 weeks.
- No serious adverse events in that Sydney trial.
- Bend from the hips with a long spine if bones are thin.
A quick word on Iyengar yoga. Iyengar yoga is the style developed by Mr BKS Iyengar. In the 20th century he did more than anyone to set down traditional Indian yoga, and he pioneered the use of props, chairs, walls and blocks, so that people of any age can do the poses safely. He practised into his 90s. It is the style we teach at Flametree, in Darwin and live online.
Tree Pose builds the ankle, foot and hip strength that catches a stumble. Stuart teaches many of our beginner classes.
What exercise should over 60s do?
Exercise that keeps you strong on your feet. Three things slip with age: strength, flexibility and bone. Strength drops about 1% a year in your 50s and 2 to 4% a year in your 70s. And older people with weak legs have nearly twice the odds of a fall, and about three times the odds of falling again and again.
Falls matter in Australia. 6,698 Australians died from falls in 2022-23, roughly five times the road toll. So the best exercise for over 60s works the legs, challenges balance and loads bone, not just the heart.
Weak legs triple the odds of repeat falls. Leg strength is the first thing worth building after 60.
Is yoga safe for seniors?
Yes, when it is taught with care. The most important study for older Australians was done in Sydney. In 2013, Dr Anne Tiedemann’s team at the George Institute ran 12 weeks of Iyengar-based yoga, mostly standing poses, twice a week, for 54 people living at home with an average age of 68. Their balance, balance with the eyes closed, walking speed and getting up from a chair all improved. These are the main risk factors for falls. Nobody had a serious side effect.
A 2025 review of 18 trials found almost all of them showed better balance with yoga. So in a Sydney pilot study, Iyengar yoga improved the main risk factors for falls, and the wider research points the same way.
There is one clear thing to avoid if your bones are thin: loaded rounding of the spine. Bend forward from the hips with a long back instead. A good teacher builds that into every class.
Different teams, different countries, the same direction: better balance with yoga. Iyengar trials are marked.
Is it too late to start yoga at 60 or 70?
No. A 2019 review of 22 trials in people over 60 found yoga improved lower body flexibility, leg strength and balance, and beat other exercise such as walking for leg strength and flexibility. Eight weeks of gentle Iyengar yoga gave people aged 62 to 83 more hip extension and a longer stride.
Eleanor Williams, in Suza Francina’s The New Yoga for Healthy Aging, was never athletic and was afraid of exercise all her life. At 51 she went to her first Iyengar class. In her seventies she was still studying, and learning tennis and golf. Vivian Vieritz, in Kathy Arthurson’s Yoga Years, still teaches a weekly class in Queensland at 95.
Get the free ebook Strong Bones, Steady Feet. New to Flametree, or away for 3 months or more? You get 2 free classes + 2 ebooks, only available via this offer. Already coming to class? You can still get the book.
What if I have sore knees or stiff joints?
Then a well-taught class is a good place to be. Reviews of knee osteoarthritis (wear and change in the joint) trials found less pain, less stiffness and better function with yoga, often more than with other exercise. A 2024 review of 16 trials found 10 of 14 yoga programmes reduced pain or improved function.
Mr Iyengar told teachers, about students over 65: “Do not try force, correct little by little. Even if you increase mobility 5-10% it is good.” That is how a class for older bodies is built: props bring the pose to you, holds are short and repeated, and nothing is forced.
Sore joints are a reason to start, not to stop. Most yoga programmes for osteoarthritis eased pain or helped function.
How do I start exercising safely after 60?
- Tell your teacher everything. Joint replacements, thin bones, blood pressure, dizziness. The class is changed for you.
- Use the props. A chair, a wall and a block let you work strongly with full confidence. Chair yoga is a starting point, not a ceiling.
- Stand first. Standing poses build the legs and balance that matter most.
- Come regularly. The Sydney trial used two classes a week for 12 weeks. More often is better.
- Get down to the floor and up again. In a Brazilian study of 2,002 adults aged 51 to 80, people who needed the most help to sit on the floor and stand up again had more than five times the risk of dying over about six years. It is a sign, not a cause, but it is a skill worth keeping, and a class practises it every time.
Feel free to check with your professional advisers if you wish, but also give yoga a try. Tell your teacher about any health matters before class so they can adapt it.
A chair at hand. Support lets you work strongly with full confidence, which is the point of props.
Warrior 2, a weight-bearing standing pose. Standing poses are the backbone of every beginner class.
Where can over 60s exercise in Darwin?
For over 60s exercise in Darwin, come to class at Flametree’s Woolner or Coolalinga studio, or join live online from anywhere in Australia. Our beginner classes suit people in their 60s, 70s and 80s, with chairs, walls and blocks from day one, and the gentle and 50s Plus Focus classes take it further.
See also Yoga For Seniors, How To Improve Balance and How To Get More Flexible.
Strong Bones, Steady Feet, our free ebook on bones and balance after 50.
Your free copy of Strong Bones, Steady Feet is waiting. New to Flametree, or away for 3 months or more? You get 2 free classes + 2 ebooks, only available via this offer. Already coming to class? You can still get the book.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best exercise for over 60s?
Exercise that builds leg strength, balance and bone together, not just fitness. In a 2023 review of 33 studies, yoga gave older people faster walking and stronger legs, and in a Sydney trial Iyengar yoga improved balance and getting up from a chair in 12 weeks.
Can a 70 year old start yoga?
Yes. Trials have included people well into their 70s and 80s, and gentle Iyengar yoga gave people aged 62 to 83 more hip movement and a longer stride in eight weeks. Props such as chairs and walls make the poses safe at any age.
How often should over 60s exercise?
Most days, in some form. The Sydney Iyengar trial used two classes a week for 12 weeks, and a large falls review found about three hours a week of balance work did best. Regular beats occasional.
Is chair yoga enough for seniors?
It is a good start and suits people who cannot stand for long. Iyengar classes use the chair as a prop within standing poses too, so you can build strength and balance on your feet while the chair keeps you safe.
What exercises should seniors avoid?
With thin bones, avoid loaded rounding of the spine, such as sit-ups or bending forward with a curved back under load. Avoid forcing any joint. A teacher who knows your health adjusts forward bends, twists and inversions for you.
Can yoga help seniors with knee pain?
Reviews of knee osteoarthritis trials found less pain, less stiffness and better function with yoga. In a 2024 review of 16 trials, 10 of 14 yoga programmes reduced pain or improved function.
Why does leg strength matter so much after 60?
Because weak legs make falls more likely: older people with weak legs have nearly twice the odds of a fall and about three times the odds of repeat falls. Standing poses build leg strength and balance together.
Where can over 60s do yoga in Darwin?
Flametree Yoga Studio teaches Iyengar yoga at Woolner and Coolalinga in Darwin and live online. Beginner classes suit people in their 60s, 70s and 80s, with chairs, walls and blocks from the first class.
Where to next
- New to yoga, or coming back? Start with our half price 10 class pass with 2 classes free, in Darwin or live online.
- For a workplace, team or group: book private yoga classes for groups, online, at a Flametree studio or at your venue.
- Want to see class times first? Look at the beginner timetable.
Flametree Yoga Studio, Darwin and live online. This article is general information, not medical advice. Feel free to check with your professional advisers if you wish, but also give yoga a try.
Sources: Tiedemann A and colleagues, A 12-week Iyengar yoga program improved balance and mobility in older community-dwelling people, Journals of Gerontology Series A, 2013; Loewenthal J and colleagues, yoga and frailty in older adults (33 studies, 2,384 people), Annals of Internal Medicine, 2023; Sivaramakrishnan D and colleagues, yoga in older adults (22 trials), 2019; Bajaj P and colleagues, yoga and balance (18 trials), Osteoporosis International, 2025; DiBenedetto M and colleagues, gentle Iyengar yoga and gait, 2005; Brito LB and colleagues, sitting-rising test (2,002 adults), European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 2014; Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, falls deaths 2022-23; Suza Francina, The New Yoga for Healthy Aging; Kathy Arthurson, Yoga Years, 2021. Further reading: Tiedemann and colleagues, 2013. Full references are in the Strong Bones, Steady Feet and Too Stiff For Yoga? ebooks.
