Dumbbell Exercises for Women

Many of the weight loss programs concentrate only on cardiovascular exercises. Though these exercises help to lose weight, resistance or weight training should also be included in the weight loss program. Resistance training helps to build toned muscles and lose body fat with faster rate. Dumbbell exercises are part of such resistance training, where you can tone your upper body.

Dumbbell Exercises for Women
Women usually have this misconception that weight training or dumbbell exercises will make their body look muscular like men's body. However, it is not true and proper weight training with the help of a physical trainer can help a woman to get a well toned body, without any muscular look and wont reduce the feminine look at all. Before moving on to dumbbell exercises for women, here are some advantages of these dumbbell exercises.

• A good dumbbell exercise routine increases your metabolism by burning fats at faster rate and thereby, help to control weight in an effective manner.
• These exercises improve bone density and reduce the risk of getting osteoporosis.
• The results of dumbbell exercises are effective in very less time period, as compared to other exercises.
• Dumbbell exercises improve the physical appearance and also increase self-esteem
• They also help in maintaining proper blood pressure and blood sugar levels.
• These exercises increase the energy level to do the daily activities.

So, you can see that there are myriad of advantages of dumbbell exercises for women. All you need is a good pair of dumbbells and proper guidance by a physical trainer. Before beginning with the exercises, see that you buy a light weight dumbbell that weighs 2-3 pounds. You can gradually increase the weight once you are used to these exercises. Target the particular group of muscles that you want to workout and initially workout for 15-20 minutes.

Upright Row
It is one of the dumbbell back exercises, that help to strengthen the upper back. Given below are the steps to perform upright row, that will target not only your upper back but also your shoulders and neck.

• Hold dumbbells in both hands and keep your hands close to your thighs.
• Keep your palms facing towards your front thighs.
• Now raise your arms simultaneously so that the dumbbells reach your chin.
• While raising your arms lead your elbows to your sides.
• When dumbbells touch your chin, your elbows should be higher than your wrist
• Slowly bring them down and repeat.

Dumbbell Chest Flye
This is a chest dumbbell exercise for women that targets chest and frontal portion of shoulders. Read more on chest exercises for women. Here are the steps to perform this dumbbell exercise.

• Lie down on an exercise mat or a bench and hold dumbbells in both hands.
• Now, hold the dumbbells in such a way that your arms make a right angle with the floor.
• Your thumbs should be facing towards your head.
• Then bring down the dumbbells to your sides, make a right angled controlled arc.
• Keep your arms parallel to the floor.
• Get back to the initial position and repeat the steps.

Dumbbell Raise
Dumbbell shoulder exercises for women target all the shoulder muscles and help to improve the appearance of the upper body. The steps to perform front and lateral dumbbell raise are given below:

• Stand in a straight position with a shoulder width apart distance between your feet.
• Hold dumbbells in both hands such that thumbs face forward.
• Keep your head still, back in a neutral position and look straight ahead.
• Now, raise the dumbbells in forward direction up to your shoulder level.
• Slowly bring them down and repeat.
• Repeat same set of steps for lateral raise, just raise the dumbbells out to your sides to reach your shoulder level.

Biceps Curl
Biceps curl are one of the dumbbell arm exercises for women that help to get you toned arms. Read more on arm workouts for women. Here are the steps to perform this simple home dumbbell exercise.

• Stand in a straight position with dumbbells in both hands.
• Keep your palms on front thighs, facing away from your body.
• Keep your elbows close to your sides and fold them to curl the dumbbells to your shoulders.
• Smoothly bring them down and repeat the steps without giving any jerk to the dumbbells.

These were some of the best dumbbell exercises for women, that target some of the important parts of upper body. Perform some warm up exercises before doing any dumbbell exercise. Consult a physical trainer and get to know the proper steps to perform dumbbell exercises for women.