As you enter your 50s and beyond, strength training becomes essential for maintaining and building muscle mass while increasing overall strength. With age, your body naturally begins to lose muscle, and strength training is one of the most effective ways to preserve and even regain what you have. That’s why I’ve put together the best workout to help you build stronger muscles after 50.
The good news? Muscle is a powerful anti-aging tool. It supports a healthy metabolism, helps you stay active, and enhances your overall quality of life. Strong muscles allow you to keep doing the activities you love, and when viewed through that lens, strength training becomes not just exercise but an investment in a healthier, more vibrant future.
To build strength effectively, it’s crucial to choose exercises that challenge your body and stimulate muscle growth. The most effective exercises for building stronger muscles are compound movements, which engage multiple muscle groups at once. Ideally, your workout should include exercises that target key movement patterns: upper body push, upper body pull, lower body (squat, hinge, and lunge), and core.
If you’re just starting out, full-body workouts that incorporate all these movement patterns are a great place to begin. Not sure where to start? I’ve got you covered with the best workout for stronger muscles after 50. Perform 3–4 sets of each exercise to maximize your results.
Dumbbell Goblet Squat
- Grab a dumbbell and hold it with both hands underneath the handle.
- Keeping your torso as upright as you can, push your hips back and squat down to where your hips are parallel to the floor.
- Drive through your heels and stand back up, flexing your glutes and quads to finish.
- Perform 8 to 10 reps.
Lat Pulldowns
- Grip the lat pulldown bar with your palms facing away from you just outside your shoulders.
- Lean back slightly and pull the bar down towards your sternum with your elbows, squeezing your lats at the very bottom of the movement.
- Resist on the way up, maintaining tension in your lats.
- Get a good stretch at the very top by letting your shoulder blades come up before performing another rep.
- Do 8 to 10 reps.
Standing Dumbbell Shoulder Press
- Start by having the dumbbells up next to your shoulders.
- Keeping your core tight and glutes squeezed, press the dumbbells up, flexing your shoulders and triceps at the top.
- Lower the weight under control before performing another rep.
- Do 8 to 10 reps.
Dumbbell Reverse Lunge
- Hold two dumbbells at your sides while standing with your feet together, keeping your chest tall and core tight.
- Then, take one foot and step back, firmly planting your back foot and bending your knee to lower yourself down until your knee touches the floor gently.
- Drive through your front heel to raise yourself back up to the starting position, standing with your feet together.
- Do 10 reps on each leg.
Dumbbell Hammer Curls
- Grab a pair of dumbbells with both hands facing each other in a neutral grip.
- Keeping your shoulders pulled back, curl the weight up, flexing your forearms and biceps the entire time.
- Squeeze hard at the top, then resist on the way down.
- Perform 10 to 12 reps.
Ab Wheel Rollout
- Assume a kneeling position with your hands holding the ab wheel.
- Keeping your core tight and glutes squeezed, extend your body forward toward the ground, leading with your arms and hips.
- Go down as far as you can while maintaining tension in your abs.
- When you reach the bottom, exhale all of your air out before returning to the starting position.
- Perform 8 to 10 reps.