Build Full Body Muscle at Home With Dumbbells Over 50 (Real Growth)

Today we’ll put together a full-body dumbbell workout that builds muscle. We’ll look at how to adapt it to your fitness level and suggest adjustments to the exercise or what to change if you are experiencing joint pain, as many of us over 50 do.

I’ll post the entire workout at the end so you can screenshot it.

We’ll start with squats, you pick one of four exercises. If you’re an absolute beginner, start with the low dumbbell sumo squat; this is the easiest and safest variation. The wide stance keeps your shin perpendicular to the floor, reducing knee stress. Having the weight down low reduces the demand on the core and low back.

The first progression is the goblet squat, where you hold the dumbbell up in front of you; this increases the range of motion and demands more core stability, although it’s easier on the back than a traditional squat because your torso is more upright. If you maintain a wide stance like with the sumo squat, it keeps the stress off the knees.

If you would like help losing excess body fat and building muscle, please email me at 1shark1bite@gmail.com for information on my personal training services.

To purchase the tee shirt and shorts I’m wearing in this video or any Fit and 50 workout wear, click here, https://fit-and-50.creator-spring.com

Check your testosterone levels from home. Just click this link http://trylgc.com/laurence and receive 30% off with code: LAURENCE30 I receive commissions on referrals to LetsGetChecked. I only recommend services I know and trust.

Are you in the market for a fun way to get cardio in? If you are here is my affiliate link for 30 dollars off and free shipping on a set of 2 heavy jump ropes http://vip.torroband.com/heavyrope/?ref=codd&affId=555B3E5D

Bells of Steel is a home gym equipment supplier, they have everything from the basics to commercial gym quality products https://www.bellsofsteel.us/#a_aid=FITAND50

https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/19/7339

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7449336/

As long as you’re progressing on an exercise, there’s no reason to change it, but if you are training at home, you’ll find; as you progressively overload the movement you’ll end up using the heaviest weight you own and doing so many reps it feels like cardio. At this point, it’s time to change to a harder variation and for squats, I’d recommend bench or box squats.

This allows you to use two dumbbells, and because you’re using a bench, it gives you a defined stopping point. If you ever fail on a rep, you just sit on the bench.

The key to this movement is to push your hips back as you sit down; this engages the glutes more and protects the knee.

An honourable mention goes to split squats, as that’s the next progression, especially if you have limited weight to use.

For our chest, the bench press is a staple movement that we can adjust according to our needs. If you have shoulder issues, consider doing a neutral grip press with your palms facing each other. Another thing you can try is setting the bench at a slight 15-degree incline; this puts your shoulder in a more favourable position and increases the difficulty of the exercise, the bonus being increased emphasis on the upper chest an area that’s weak on most guys.

For the back, I recommend a chest-supported dumbbell row. These are excellent for beginners, right to advanced lifters; there’s no load on the low back, and they are easy to set up and do.

You set your bench on the lowest incline possible so that you can shift from one side to the other to reach the dumbbells, but high enough, they don’t hit the floor as you row.

To effectively work our posture chain, it’s essential to learn how to hip hinge, and an excellent exercise for this is the Romanian deadlift or RDL for short. This exercise strengthens your low back, glutes and hamstrings.

You move your hips back as you lower the weight until you feel a good stretch in your hamstrings or stop just before your low back starts to round. Then you drive your hips forward as you squeeze your glutes.

You can regress this movement by replacing it with a hip thrust off a bench, or you can progress it by either doing a kickstand or staggered stance RDL where you put one foot back behind the primary working leg for stability, or you can take it up another notch and put it up on a bench and do a Bulgarian deadlift.

We’ll do another pull exercise next with the 45% elbow out row.

For arms, I find hammer curls to be the most elbow friendly.

you can do incline curls on a bench set at 45 degrees. This puts the long head of the tricep in a stretched position.

I like lying dumbbell triceps extensions in the neutral position. If this bothers your elbow, try adjusting your hand position halfway between neutral and palms up.

To advance this move, I’d do a standing dumbbell tricep extension for the extra stretch.