Exercises For Women With Hand Held Weights

A simple strength routine will provide you with numerous health benefits. With two hand held dumbbells you can devise a routine to focus on your upper body, there are a number of exercises to choose from and you can vary your technique, weight and repetitions to make your training progressive. When core muscles weaken through no training, imbalances can occur and this can increase your chances of becoming injured if you do sports. Building muscle using hand-held weights will help with weight management and keep you injury free.

Abdominals

Dumbbell side bends will work your rectus abdominis and oblique muscles. Stand with your feet hip width apart with a dumbbell in your right hand and your left hand on the back of your head. Bend sideways at the hips at the left side. When you have performed the desired number of repetitions, hold the dumbbell in your left hand and repeat the exercise.

Shoulder Exercises

Perform a shoulder press with dumb bells to work the deltoid muscles in your shoulders and also your triceps. Hold your dumbbells with an overhand grip and lift the weights to the starting position at your shoulders, with your palms facing forwards. As you inhale, press the weights above your head by extending your arms. Slowly lower the weights back down to shoulder level to complete one repetition. According to Frederic Delavier in his book "Strength Training Anatomy," you can perform variations of this exercise, for example pressing one weight at a time for a one-arm dumbbell press, or performing the exercise from a seated position to prevent hyperextension of the spine.

Another upper body exercise that you can perform with hand-held weights is the lateral raise to target your deltoids in isolation. With your back straight, stand while holding the dumbbells by your side. Then raise the dumbbells to shoulder level with your elbows bent slightly before returning the dumbbells to the starting position.

Arm Exercises

A triceps kickback is an exercise to target your triceps. Place your left foot forward and bend your knees slightly and hold a dumbbell in your right hand. Lean forward and rest your left arm on your left thigh. Keep the upper part of your right hand close to your side with your arm bent at a right-angle. Inhale and straighten your arm and inhale to bring the weight back to the starting position. Change arms and repeat the exercise.

To balance working your triceps, do bicep curls with hand held weights. Hold the dumbbells with your palms facing upwards and keep your upper arms by your side. Keep your wrist straight and lift the weights towards your shoulder by slowly bending your arm. Lift the weights one at a time or both together, then slowly return the weights to the starting position.