As you age, resistance training is essential to building and maintaining strength.
If you’re a man over 55, it’s essential to make building strength a priority. Since it’s natural to lose muscle as you age, you’re at risk of living an independent life if you don’t do anything about it. After all, you need strong muscles to perform daily activities—simple things like carrying grocery bags, playing with your grandchildren, and even getting in and out of bed.
To help boost muscle mass, we spoke with Domenic Angelino, CPT with International Personal Trainer Academy, which offers NCCA-accredited Personal Trainer (CPT) and Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS) programs. Below, Angelino shares five daily exercises to build muscle and strength.
When it comes to the best form of training to fuel muscle growth, strength training takes the cake.
“The best types of exercise for helping men over 55 maintain and build strength are resistance training exercises. These are the sorts of things you do with a traditional gym machine or free weights,” Angelino explains. “By working with free weights, you can think of equipment along the lines of barbells, dumbbells, and kettlebells. Resistance training is helpful because it gives your body a reason to produce a large amount of force. When you produce a lot of force, your muscles will adapt and get stronger.”
Dumbbell Goblet Squats
“This exercise is great at strengthening your leg muscles in a way that mitigates a lot of common issues people experience as they get older,” Angelino tells us. “It’s also unique in that it’s a type of squat that allows you to use a large amount of weight effectively, even if you’re not very coordinated yet. It even lets you improve the endurance of upper-body muscles in your arms, chest, and shoulders. So it accomplishes a lot pretty quickly.”
- Stand tall, feet slightly wider than shoulder-width.
- Grasp a dumbbell with both hands, and hold the weight in front of your chest with your elbows pointing down and tucked in.
- Hinge at the hips and bend your knees to squat, keeping the weight in place.
- Squat as far as you can with a straight back.
- Push through your heels to return to the starting position.
- Perform 4 sets of 6 to 8 reps.
Dumbbell Single-Arm Bent-Over Row
“This is an easy to learn exercise that trains your back muscles and biceps effectively. It also engages muscles responsible for moving your shoulder blades,” Angelino explains. “And, you can perform it while using your inactive hand for support. It reduces the odds of you aggravating your lower back while rowing, so you can safely go up in weight faster than you could during other rowing variants.”
- Stand tall, feet hip-width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand in front of you.
- Hinge at the hips until your torso is parallel to the ground.
- Maintain a flat back and soft knees.
- Allow the weights to lower with your arms completely extended.
- Row the dumbbells up toward your torso.
- Lower to the start position with control.
- Perform 4 sets of 6 to 8 reps.
Dumbbell Bench Press
“This lets you train your chest, triceps, and shoulder muscles all in one. It’s very time-effective because of this. It also covers bases that the other exercises I recommend do not already cover,” Angelino explains.
- Lie flat on your back on a workout bench or the ground.
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand just outside your chest.
- Keep your feet flat on the ground and maintain an engaged core.
- Press the dumbbells over your chest until your arms are extended but not locked out.
- Use control to lower the weights.
- Perform 4 sets of 6 to 8 reps.
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Dumbbell Overhead Press
“This exercise is super helpful because it helps you build strength in a way that counters a common issue men over 55 are on their way to facing,” says Angelino. “As men age, many get to a point, usually in their 70s or later, where they struggle to lift things overhead. This can make life more inconvenient. If you strengthen muscles responsible for this type of action early, you’ll be able to mitigate the risk of ever having to deal with it. This exercise is also something that requires you to train your shoulders while maintaining a stable spine through engaging stabilizer muscles in your torso.”
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand at shoulder level, palms facing inward.
- Press the weights overhead, extending your arms.
- Use control as you lower the weights to shoulder height.
- Perform 3 sets of 6 to 8 reps.
Back Extension Machine
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“This is a bit of an unconventional pick at first glance. This is a machine exercise that lets you directly target your lower back muscles in isolation. And, it lets you do so with minimal risk to your lower back. The combination of these two factors makes this exercise exceptionally beneficial for men over 55,” Angelino says.
- Begin by adjusting the pad so it rests across your upper thighs or hips with your feet secured below the foot pad.
- Make sure your body is positioned so your hips are able to hinge freely.
- Hinge forward at the hips, lowering your torso toward the ground while maintaining a flat back—descending until your torso reaches right below parallel.
- Activate your lower back and glutes before you rise back up.
- Perform 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps.
Alexa Mellardo
Alexa is a freelance writer, editor, and content strategist based in Greenwich, CT. She has 11+ years of experience covering wellness, fitness, food, travel, lifestyle, and home. Read more about Alexa
