Add Strength Training to Your Week

Quick Win

Start building strength with a basic routine for your upper body, lower body and core. Fitness trainer Denise Austin’s videos and accompanying instructions make it easy to follow along. Aim to do each body area two to three times a week.

Try This Today

• Upper body: Read the instructions and watch the video for Upper Body Firmers and Mini Push-Ups to tone arms, back, shoulders and chest muscles. You’ll need a set of hand weights suited to your strength level — try 3 to 5 pounds if you’re a beginner.
• Lower body: Tone your glutes and leg muscles with Denise Austin’s Mini-Squats and Lunge Series.
• Midsection: Build strength in your core and abs with our Plank Series and Simple Sit-Ups.

Why

We know that resistance training is key to maintaining strength and mobility as we age — and its benefits don’t stop there. Resistance exercise has “favorable physiological and clinical effects on cardiovascular disease and risk factors,” according to a review from the American Heart Association reported in Circulation in 2023, and it confers brain benefits, too. Researchers cataloged studies showing that strength training can improve blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels, weight and body composition, sleep and mood — as well as reduce the weakening of white matter in the brain.