For most of my adult life, I believed sweat was the goal. If I left a workout drenched, breathless, and slightly depleted, I considered it successful. For decades, I ran. I cycled. I was a slave to the elliptical machine. Like so many of us were taught, I was driven by calorie burn.
Lifting weights? That was something my husband loved. Not me. Even though for years he encouraged me to lift.
It wasn’t until my 60s that I began to understand something I wish I had known sooner:
Cardio keeps your heart strong. But muscle keeps you independent.
Or, as my cardiologist put it recently, cardio leads to longevity. Weight training builds quality of life.
When I finally started lifting weights, it was mostly on the machines at the gym. I didn’t know what I was doing. But I did enjoy feeling that I was building strength with each repetition.
When Covid hit, I invested in a few pairs of dumbbells and started lifting at home. I found a couple of personal trainers I liked on YouTube. Through these women, I began to get familiar with the exercise movements and their names. I got into a routine and became hooked.
I liked what the weight training was doing for me so much that it inspired me to become a certified personal trainer.
The Power 5
As I’ve become experienced with designing training programs, I’ve identified five upper body dumbbell exercises that I view as essentials for every woman. Each of these is so straightforward that you can do them while watching your favorite show on TV and not miss a scene.
I call them The Power 5.
1. The Shoulder Press
The shoulder press is essential for women because it builds, tones, and strengthens the deltoids, triceps, and upper back. This helps to create a functional, defined, and balanced upper body.
More practically, it builds the exact strength we use every day — reaching into cabinets, lifting a heavy box, grabbing items from the backseat of your car.
How to do the shoulder press:
- Stand or sit with your core engaged
- Hold dumbbells at ear level with elbows at a 45-degree angle
- Press weights directly overhead until your arms are extended without locking elbows
- Slowly lower to the start
- Repeat
2. The Single-Arm Row
The single-arm row strengthens the muscles of the mid-back. A strong back helps maintain a healthy, active lifestyle. Back strength is essential for daily tasks, such as lifting a bag of groceries or moving heavy objects.
The rowing motion of the single-arm row requires stabilization from the core, lower back, and obliques. This makes it also a functional ab workout.
Many of us typically have weaker sides of our body. Working one arm at a time gives a weaker side an opportunity to catch up and build balanced muscles.
How to do the single-arm row:
- Place your left knee and hand on a bench or chair, keeping your back flat and core tight
- Hold a dumbbell in your right hand with a neutral grip
- Pulling the weight up toward your hip while squeezing your shoulder blade
- Lower slowly
- Repeat
3. The Chest Press
The chest press works the large muscles across the front of the chest. But what it really builds is pushing strength — the kind we need to get up off the floor, move furniture, and push open heavy doors.
The chest press primarily works the pectoralis (aka pec) muscles. Besides improving your ability to perform physical tasks, strong pec muscles can improve your posture and give a more lifted, firmer appearance to your chest area.
How to do the chest press:
- Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat to stabilize your spine
- Hold dumbbells above your chest with a 45-degree elbow angle
- Lower until your elbows touch the floor
- Press dumbbells up, focusing on the contraction of your pecs
- Repeat
4. The Alternating Bicep Curl
There’s something about having strong biceps that gives me a sense of independence. Training my biceps with alternating bicep curls has made a significant impact on my arm strength. I like being able to carry a heavy load in my grocery bags or lift my jam-packed carry-on bag into the overhead bin without assistance.
How to do alternating bicep curls:
- Stand with feet hip-width apart holding dumbbells at your sides, palms facing in
- Curl one dumbbell up while rotating your wrist so the palm faces your shoulder, keeping your elbow locked at your side
- Lower slowly, then repeat with the other arm, focusing on controlled movement
If I’m sitting at my desk for extended hours of the day, I’ll often take a standing break and do a few curls. No getting on the floor. Just pump out a few and return to what I was doing.
5. The Overhead Triceps Extension
Flabby underarms are an all-too-familiar issue as women age. The root cause is decreased collagen and elastin in the body, which is often deposited in the arms. The good news is that we can defend ourselves from “bat wings” by training our triceps.
The triceps muscle is responsible for the extension of the elbow joint and straightening of the arm. They enable movements like pushing, throwing, and reaching.
How to do the overhead triceps extension:
- Stand or sit, holding one dumbbell with both hands around the handle or on one end of the weight
- Lift the dumbbell straight overhead, ensuring your core and glutes are engaged to stabilize your spine
- Lower the dumbbell slowly behind your head, bending only at the elbows. Keep your upper arms stationary and close to your ears
- Squeeze your triceps to extend your arms back to the starting position
- Lower the weight as far as your mobility allows to maximize the stretch in your triceps
The Power 5 Circuit
These five exercises cover pushing, pulling, lifting, and reaching. They strengthen the muscles that protect our shoulders, spine, and our independence.
Combine the Power 5 in a circuit (rotation of exercises with little or no rest) and you’ve got yourself a staple upper-body workout. Perform 8-20 reps per exercise with 2-4 sets.
You could add more exercises. But you don’t have to.
After 60, the goal isn’t to exhaust yourself. It’s to build a body that supports the life you want to live.
Join the List
Stay up to date & receive the latest posts in your inbox.