Rebuild confident arm strength in 7 minutes, right at home.
Reaching for a heavy pan on the top shelf or lifting grocery bags into your car used to feel effortless, but somewhere along the way, those simple tasks started feeling harder. The good news is you don’t need a gym membership or expensive weight machines to rebuild your arm strength. Here’s a simple 7-minute standing routine that can help you regain confidence in your upper body at any age.
Why Arm Strength Matters After 50
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In my experience as a Health and fitness instructor at East Jefferson General Hospital, I have observed that older adults often lose the ability to raise their arms above their heads. This is either due to a lack of exercise or an injury.
The exercises are pretty simple and can be done anywhere at any time.
For each exercise, do them for about 30 seconds with 15-30 seconds of rest between exercises.
Arm Circles
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- Hold the arms out to the side at shoulder height
- Make small circles with the arms forward for 15 seconds and backwards for 15 seconds
- Palms will be facing downward, but to add variety palms can be facing forward or backwards to feel the exercise in different areas of the shoulders
Lateral Raises
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- Start with the arms down by your side and palms facing your outer thighs
- Lift them out to the side to shoulder height
- Bending the elbows will make this movement easier, but as you get better at it try to do it with straight arms
Front Raises
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- Start with arms down in front of your thighs
- Raise them forward with the palms facing downward to shoulder height
Palm Presses
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- Start with your hands together like you are praying
- The hands should be at chest height
- Press the palms together for about 2-3 seconds while breathing out
- Rest for 2-3 seconds and repeat for 30 seconds
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Shoulder Blade Squeezes
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- Start with arms straight forward
- Pull them back as you squeeze your shoulder blades together
- Hold the squeeze for 2-3 seconds while breathing out
- Rest for 2-3 seconds and repeat for 30 seconds
- To add difficulty, pull back with your elbows higher to engage the upper back muscles
- This is a great exercise for posture
Overhead Presses
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- Start with the hands near your ears and palms facing forward
- Lift your hands towards the ceiling
- This will be one of the more challenging exercises to complete
How Often You Should Do This Routine
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These exercises train most of the upper body muscle groups and help you complete ADLs, activities of daily living. Several of these movements also improve your posture by strengthening the back muscles.
One common mistake people make is doing too much too fast. Listen to your body and if an exercise hurts, don’t do it. Lowering the length of time per exercise can be a way to start easier and help avoid possible injuries. As the exercises get easier, start doing them for longer.
Since this routine is low impact, this routine can be done every day. For a novice exerciser, I’d recommend doing this 2-3 times a week and doing it every other day. This will allow the muscles to recover from the exercises. As the routine gets easier, add another day to the week.
What Results You Can Expect After 4-6 Weeks
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Physiologically, it takes the body about 8 weeks to see full effects of a workout routine, but you will start to feel stronger almost immediately. This is the body’s neurological system becoming more efficient and trying to recruit more muscles.
Doing simple tasks, like opening a can or reaching for something on a higher shelf, will seem easier. That is your body telling you that it’s stronger, but it is super important to keep the routine up even when you start to feel stronger. We lose strength very fast, especially as we age.
Karl Lehmann
Karl Lehmann is a certified fitness professional and Wellness Center Lead at East Jefferson General Hospital in New Orleans. Read more about Karl
