SUMMARY: I’m sometimes asked for a book recommendation to help older adults (OAs) implement an exercise program.  Choices are slim, but I can recommend Dr. Cody Sipe’s “Quick Functional Exercises for Seniors: 50 Exercises to Optimize Your Health”. OAs interested in maintaining their physical function would do well to buy this compact 161-page, 7-chapter book and carefully read it, as it contains lots of important information which, if properly applied, could help to stave off the physical declines of aging. The book, however, is not without some shortcomings; chiefly in how exercises are organized/presented as well as some crucial omissions of important information which can make it harder for OAs to understand, implement, and be safe & effective with the exercises presented. I discuss these shortcomings and offer advice and information to supplement the shortcomings of the book. The majority of the most problematic omissions are associated with Chapter 4: Exercises for Strength and Power.

INTRO

I’m sometimes asked for a book recommendation to help older adults (OAs) implement an exercise program.  Choices are slim, but I can recommend Dr. Cody Sipe’s “Quick Functional Exercises for Seniors: 50 Exercises to Optimize Your Health”. Given the title, please note the book’s strength is not actually the exercises presented (weakest part of the book), but the important insights about OA’s trajectory of physical capability as they age. All in all, though, there is A LOT of good information in this compact book – I’ve read it at least 3x – but it does have some notable shortcomings that I’ll get to below.

I don’t like the book title, especially the word “quick”, as it’s misleading since OAs need to be playing the “long game” with regard to fitness & functional capacities: OAs shouldn’t be chasing “quick” exercises, but rather the “right” exercises for them as an individual, which are performed consistently. And, those “50 exercises” referenced in the title won’t “optimize your health” unless paired with other health-promoting behaviors (and I’m sure Dr. Sipe is aware of this fact). A preferred title might have been “Functional Exercise for Older Adults” – but I’m guessing the publisher was in charge of picking the book title and perhaps not Dr. Sipe.

Dr. Sipe (PhD) should be considered a solid expert & authority in the OA fitness area. He is co-founder of the Functional Aging Institute (FAI) along with Dr. Dan Ritchie, PhD. Together, through the FAI organization, they developed the first OA-specialized fitness trainer certification, the Functional Aging Specialist, a certification which I have earned myself (1).

OVERVIEW

My main point is OAs interested in maintaining their physical function (which should be just about all OAs) would do well to buy this book and carefully read it, as it contains lots of important information which, if applied properly, could help to stave off the physical declines of aging.

Published in 2023, this book is a brief 161 pages with seven chapters which are listed in order below:

1. Keys to Functional Longevity

2. Functional Training

3. Exercises for Cardiovascular Endurance

4. Exercises for Strength and Power

5. Exercises for Balance and Mobility

6. Core and Posture Exercises

7. Building a Program

Overall Chapter Impressions:

*Strongest Chapters: Chapters 1, 2, 5

*Weakest Chapters: No “weak” chapters as every chapter contains good info

*Most Problematic Chapter: Chapter 4

INDIVIDUAL CHAPTER REVIEWS & COMMENTS

Chapters 1 & 2:

These two initial chapters are outstanding. I’d recommend reading & re-reading these chapters and assimilating the concepts they contain to help motivate you, and aid your understanding of what you’re trying to accomplish with a well-designed structured exercise program.

In the first chapter, page 3’s presentation of the Functional Trajectory of Aging vis a vis the Disability Threshold is vital to understand. Page 11’s discussion of the changing functional needs of aging and what it means to be physically “active” compared to participating in a regular structured exercise program is another key. Finally, pages 12 to 14 outline some of the key principles of exercise training; why walking just isn’t enough by itself; and the concept of physiologic/functional reserve (which some of my clients have a hard time grasping the importance of).

In chapter 2, pages 27 to 31’s presentation of the Six Domains of Function is absolute gold and helps one understand why an individualized exercise program is so important to help improve or maintain functional capacities. The rest of the chapter focuses on the Hierarchy of Functional Aging & the eight OA functional levels. And lastly, do read page 36’s discussion of frailty as an OA disability syndrome and the clinical characteristics that define frailty in an individual.

Chapter 3:

Cardiovascular endurance could also be called aerobic capacity or cardiorespiratory capacity/endurance. All the standard prescriptive considerations for aerobic exercise are included, but I have suggestions that may be helpful:

A) I wouldn’t try to use predicted heart rates for monitoring your aerobic intensity – there’s just too much individual variation for these age-based predicted heart rates – I think relative perceived exertion (RPE) below is much easier to use.

B) With regard to RPE, Dr. Sipe presents the original Borg Perceived Exertion Scale that is actually a 20-point scale that he starts at a perceived level of “6” and maxes out at “20”, which is not very intuitive to implement. I’d recommend using the more accessible modified 10-point RPE, which goes from a perceived exertion level of “1” and maxes out at “10”, which is more straightforward. I discuss the modified 10-point RPE in detail in my post The Importance of Doing Hard Things: Cardio Edition.

C) Pages 43 to 47 discuss High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). If you’d like additional information & discussion on High Intensity Interval Training, please see my post The Importance of Doing Hard Things: Cardio Edition 2.

Chapter 4:

Exercises for Strength & Power is the longest chapter in the book and contains some good information, however there are some very important omissions and oversights, chiefly:

A) the absence of a clear discussion of what constitutes appropriate intensity of effort for resistance exercise (RE)

B) a brief, cursory discussion of the “7 Fundamental Movement Patterns” (see below) as they relate to choosing the appropriate RE exercises for any given OA – a crucial concept that needs & deserves a more thorough discussion

C) there is a certain randomness/disorganization in the way the actual exercises are presented: they should be ordered from most assessable to most challenging, but they are not, which makes it hard for an OA novice resistance exerciser to choose the most appropriate exercise to safely & effectively get started with RE

D) no discussion of a system of safety for using handled elastic cords for pulling & pushing exercises

E) complete absence of the concept of regressing and progressing exercises within a fundamental movement pattern family of exercises – an absolute key concept for RE training – especially for OAs

The chapter starts with an important quote on page 49: “It (resistance exercise) is probably the most important thing you can do to ensure you remain as physically capable as you can as you get older”. I completely agree and devoted a whole blog post to this idea: The Importance of Doing Hard Things.

As to omission “A” above, on page 50 Dr. Sipe discusses “underdosing”, a situation where the muscles are not challenged enough (not enough intensity, load, effort) to create a positive adaptation that increases their mass, strength or power – but never discusses how to prevent underdosing – which is to make sure you’re consistently applying an appropriate level of intensity or challenge or effort. Please see my post The Importance of Doing Hard Things for a discussion of Repetitions-in-Reserve (RIR), which is the most assessable way to determine RE intensity/effort/challenge.

With reference to omission “B” above, on page 53 Dr. Sipe briefly mentions the “7 Fundamental Movement Patterns” (see below for the patterns), which are the movement patterns OAs should strive to build their RE program around. Unfortunately, Dr. Sipe’s discussion of fundamental movement patterns is cursory and deserves more elaboration; particularly as an unifying organizing principle to help OAs make more sense of the actual exercises presented in the chapter.

Concerning omission “C” above, the omission is that each of the 7 fundamental movement patterns should be considered “a family” of closely related patterns, from most accessible entry-point pattern to most challenging advanced pattern. To follow a logical order, Dr. Sipe’s actual exercises contained in the chapter should have been organized and presented around this central concept. For example, standing (hip) “hinge” exercises are presented on pages 65-68 but “glute bridges” are presented ten pages later – which is ass-backwards from a progression standpoint (pun intended) as “glute bridges” are the “on-ramp”, entry-point hip hinge exercises.

The 7 Fundamental Movement Patterns: I would say there are more than 7 fundamental movement patterns for OAs in particular, but the 7 Fundamental Movement Patterns that Dr. Sipe presents are below, along with my editorial comments in parentheses:

1. Squat/Sit-to-Stand (squats could be on one leg or two)

2. Hinge/Deadlift (to be clear it’s a “hip hinge” and can be performed on one leg or two)

3. Lunge/Step Up (for OAs, I would separate these into distinct patterns & not lump together)

4.Push/Press (horizontal or vertical – one arm or two)

5. Pull/Row (horizontal or vertical – one arm or two)

6. Anti-Rotation (and actual dynamic trunk/hip rotation as movement)

7. Carry (this pattern is often referred to as gait and carry)

Concerning omission “D”, a system of safety for using handled elastic cords is important as many people have suffered serious injuries from cords coming loose or breaking. If my clients use elastic cords, I repeatedly go over a system of safety including how to position legs/feet to prevent a fall should a cord come loose, and the exact protocol for using a door anchor, as well as choosing the safest version of door anchors and avoiding unsafely designed door anchors.

Starting on page 58 and continuing to the end of the chapter are where Dr. Sipe lists the actual exercises that he recommends. As stated in the INTRO, this section is the weakest of the book and lacks unifying concepts to help beginners to pick the safest, most appropriate place to start RE with each fundamental movement pattern for their particular body and physical capability – this is the concept of regression & progression as per omission “E” above. A disappointing example of a lack of regression options is pages 91-93, where Dr. Sipe covers overhead presses, but fails to mention that many OAs lack the requisite overhead shoulder flexion mobility to perform this exercise safely and offers on alternatives.

Chapter 5:

This chapter is mostly excellent and can’t be beat for a concise discussion of balance & falls risk – really important to read and understand for OAs (2). Again, thought, like the last chapter, the actual exercises lack a clear flow from least challenging to more challenging and without a clear criterion to apply to know if appropriate for a particular individual or when to advance a movement or even refrain because one’s body or physical capabilities may not be up to it.

For example, on page 100, under Key Balance Training Recommendations, recommendation #1 states “exercise must provide a moderate or high challenge to (one’s) balance” to be effective. But it’s not addressed what’s safe for any particular OA to perform without risking a fall, while still fulfilling this “moderate to high” challenge-to-balance requirement. For example, I have clients that require a “contact guard assist” from me by holding on to a multi-handled gait belt around their waist for them to safely perform many of the exercises listed. The absence of tips for progression/regression is unfortunate, but perhaps the only shortcoming of the chapter.

Chapter 6:

This chapter is titled “Core and Posture Exercises”; the inclusion of the word “posture” is curious and needlessly confusing as the chapter is about: 1) Core Training; and 2) Joint-Tissue Mobility (Flexibility). Nevertheless, there’s lots of good information presented.

The chapter starts with a discussion of “neutral spine” and then details some of the key muscles involved in “core training”.  Next, Dr. Sipe moves along to present “three key strategies” and they are “key” indeed:

1.How to Find Neutral Spine

2. How to Brace

3. How to Hip Hinge

An important omission is that the intensity of muscular “bracing” is determined by the magnitude of the destabilizing load/force the body is subjected to – from very light bracing contractions for small loads, to 100% bracing contractions if under extreme load – this is not made clear.

Another key omission is that core training is a continuum – it can start at a level below where Dr. Sipe chooses to start his exercises and continues well past the core exercises included, although he does cover what many would consider most of the “basics”.

On page 124 – Build Isometric Endurance First – he lists specific exercises with a word in parentheses after, but no explanation what the bracketed word means. He is referring to one of the body’s three planes of motion. The body’s plains of motion are:

a) Transverse plane – the length-wise rotational plane of the body movement

b) Sagittal plane – is the front-to-back plane of body movement

c) Frontal plane is the side-to-side plane of body movement

Dr. Sipe moves on to discuss Joint Mobility and Flexibility starting on page 126. This is often overlooked by OAs, so is an important read and I like what he covered.

Starting on page 130, Dr. Sipe covers his “Core and Posture Exercises”. Again, “posture” is confusing as the exercises are joint-tissue mobility exercises. And again, like the resistance exercises in Chapter 4, there is not a clear progression or entry-point exercise; or tips on how to modify to reduce challenge or increase the challenge incrementally for the exercises; he also doesn’t explain what’s a core exercise and what’s a joint-tissue mobility exercise, which is needlessly confusing.

A really important omission is he doesn’t explain what plane-of-motion the destabilizing force is coming from for each exercise – sagittal, frontal or transverse – having this knowledge helps to explain what the focus of the exercise is (anti-rotation, anti-flexion, anti-extension, anti-lateral flexion); the part of the core that is being challenged, and where the particular exercise fits in to the whole menu of “core” exercises.

Chapter 7:

Mostly great stuff, but on page 149, Dr. Sipe discusses “Progressive Overload” and says “challenging your abilities is the key to improvement”. This would have been a good time to thoroughly discuss what constitutes an appropriate challenge; particularly for RE with reference to the RIR method for gauging intensity/challenge/effort. He does mention a “somewhat hard to hard” range, but the context seems to refer to balance exercises.

ONE LAST THING

On page 159, under the heading “Bonus Resources”, Dr. Sipe talks about a free online membership with access to a “video library of exercises with videos”, as well as several other features. To the best of my knowledge, the website listed is inoperable, so there appears to be no such “video library” or any other “bonus resources”. I’ve tried to email Dr. Sipe at the only email I could find online, but to date he has not replied and it’s been several weeks.

Footnotes:

(1) See all the certifications I’ve earned here

(2) In a recent post I covered falls risk topics here