Top 10 Strength Training Exercises for Dads Over 35

It was a Sunday afternoon and my youngest wanted me to chase him around the garden. Simple enough, right? Except within three minutes I was bent over with my hands on my knees, gasping, while a four-year-old sprinted circles around me laughing his head off. That was the moment it landed — not some dramatic health scare, just a small, humbling Sunday afternoon in the garden with my kid. I wasn’t just unfit. I was weak. And the worst bit? I hadn’t even noticed it creeping up on me. After 35, muscle quietly starts to disappear if you don’t actively fight to keep it. The good news is you don’t need a complicated programme or two hours a day to turn things around. You need a short list of exercises that actually work — and the knowledge to do them properly.

These ten exercises are the foundation of everything I built my own fitness back on. They’re compound, time-efficient, joint-friendly when done well, and absolutely do not require a gym membership.

Why Compound Exercises Are Non-Negotiable After 35

Before we get into the list, a quick word on why I’m not giving you a list of bicep curls and leg extensions. After 35, we lose muscle mass at roughly 1% per year if we do nothing about it — a process called sarcopenia. We also tend to carry more fat, have less testosterone, and recover more slowly than we did at 25. The answer to all of that is compound strength training: movements that work multiple muscle groups at once, trigger the most hormonal response, and give you the most return on your limited time investment.

If you’re putting together a structured programme around these moves, the dad bod workout plan is a great place to see how they fit together into a proper training week.

Exercises 1–3: The Lower Body Foundation

1. Goblet Squat

Muscles worked: Quads, glutes, hamstrings, core, upper back

The goblet squat is the exercise I wish someone had handed me on day one. You hold a dumbbell or kettlebell at your chest, feet shoulder-width apart, and squat until your elbows touch the inside of your knees. That counterweight forces you to sit upright, which immediately fixes the forward-lean problem that ruins most beginners’ squats.

Why it’s brilliant for dads over 35: it’s self-correcting, it loads the anterior core heavily (which helps your lower back), and it requires zero equipment beyond a single dumbbell. The goblet squat also functions as a fantastic hip mobility drill — something most of us desperately need after years of desk work.

Form tip: Keep your chest tall and your heels firmly planted. Pause for a second at the bottom.

Common mistake: Letting the knees cave inward. Push them out actively, tracking over your little toes.

2. Romanian Deadlift (RDL)

Muscles worked: Hamstrings, glutes, lower back, core

The Romanian deadlift is a hinge movement rather than a squat. You’re pushing your hips back while keeping a slight bend in the knees, lowering dumbbells or a barbell along your shins until you feel a deep stretch in your hamstrings, then driving your hips forward to stand tall. It’s extraordinary for building posterior chain strength — the back of your body — which is almost always undertrained in desk workers.

For dads over 35, strong hamstrings and glutes mean less lower back pain, better posture, and more power for everything from lifting kids to climbing stairs. According to research published on the NHS, strength training twice per week is recommended for adults — and the RDL should be in everyone’s rotation.

Form tip: Think “hinge, don’t squat.” The movement comes from the hips pushing back, not the knees bending.

Common mistake: Rounding the lower back. Maintain a neutral spine throughout. If you can’t, reduce the weight.

3. Bulgarian Split Squat

Muscles worked: Quads, glutes, hamstrings, hip flexors, core (for balance)

I’ll be honest — I avoided this one for months because it looked fiddly. Big mistake. The Bulgarian split squat (rear foot elevated on a bench or sofa) is one of the most effective single-leg exercises on the planet. It builds leg strength unilaterally, which means it irons out imbalances between legs. It also reveals — and improves — hip mobility in a way bilateral squats simply don’t.

The reason it matters particularly after 35 is that single-leg strength directly translates to injury resilience. One of the most common issues I see dads mention is knee and hip pain; bilateral weakness and imbalance are often contributors.

Form tip: Keep your front shin as vertical as possible and most of your weight through your front heel.

Common mistake: Putting the rear foot too close, which forces the shin forward and loads the knee uncomfortably. Start with a longer stance.

Exercises 4–6: Upper Body Pulling and Pressing

4. Dumbbell Row

Muscles worked: Latissimus dorsi, rhomboids, rear deltoids, biceps, core

For every push you do, you should be pulling at least as much — ideally more. The dumbbell row is the simplest, most accessible way to build a strong back. Brace one knee and hand on a bench, keep your back flat, and row a dumbbell from the floor toward your hip. Squeeze the shoulder blade at the top.

For dads who spend time hunched over a laptop or steering wheel, this is almost medicinal. A strong back straightens you out, reduces neck pain, and makes you look and feel more physically capable.

Form tip: Think “elbow to the sky,” not “fist to the ceiling.” The elbow should drive the movement.

Common mistake: Rotating the torso to heave the weight up. That’s momentum doing the work, not your back. Control the weight.

5. Push-Up Variations

Muscles worked: Chest, shoulders, triceps, core, serratus anterior

The push-up gets dismissed as too basic. It isn’t. A properly performed push-up — body rigid like a plank, elbows tracking at roughly 45 degrees, full range of motion — is a serious upper body and core exercise. The beauty for time-poor dads is that it requires absolutely nothing. Floor space. That’s it.

Variations keep it progressive: standard, close-grip (more triceps), wide-grip (more chest), decline (upper chest and shoulders), archer push-ups (unilateral challenge). You can spend years progressing through push-up variations before you ever need a bench.

Form tip: Your hips should not sag or pike. Set your core before you start and hold it throughout.

Common mistake: Flaring the elbows out to 90 degrees. This puts the shoulder in an impingement position and leads to pain over time. Tuck those elbows.

6. Overhead Press

Muscles worked: Shoulders (all three heads), triceps, upper traps, core

Standing and pressing weight overhead is a primal, functional movement — one that real life actually demands of you when you lift a child into a highchair or shove a suitcase into the overhead locker. The dumbbell overhead press is my preferred version because it allows a natural arc of movement and reduces the asymmetry risk that comes with a barbell.

After 35, shoulder health becomes increasingly important. The overhead press, done correctly, strengthens the rotator cuff stabilisers and builds the kind of durable shoulder function that keeps you injury-free.

Form tip: Brace your core and squeeze your glutes before pressing. Don’t hyperextend your lower back to “help” the weight up.

Common mistake: Pressing in front of the face rather than over it. Press the weight directly overhead, finishing with ears visible between your arms at the top.

Exercises 7–9: Functional Strength and Stability

7. Farmer’s Carry

Muscles worked: Grip, forearms, traps, core, glutes, everything

Pick up heavy things and walk with them. That’s it. The farmer’s carry might be the single most functional exercise on this list because it replicates something we actually do every day — carrying shopping, lifting the kids’ bike into the car, moving stuff around the house. But when you do it deliberately, with heavy dumbbells and proper posture, it becomes a full-body conditioning monster.

Grip strength, which the farmer’s carry builds better than almost anything, is also a surprisingly reliable marker of overall health and longevity. Studies in sports science and physical therapy consistently link grip strength to long-term functional capacity. Carry heavy things. Walk tall. Simple.

Form tip: Stand tall, shoulders back and down, core tight. Don’t let the weights pull your torso sideways.

Common mistake: Going too light. You want a weight that feels challenging within 20–30 metres.

8. Dumbbell Bench Press

Muscles worked: Chest (pectorals), front deltoids, triceps, serratus anterior

If you have access to a bench (or even the floor for a floor press), the dumbbell bench press is a more shoulder-friendly alternative to the barbell version and a staple upper body builder. Dumbbells allow each arm to move independently, which reduces the risk of one side compensating for the other and corrects muscular imbalances over time.

For the chest specifically, most dads over 35 who haven’t trained before have very underdeveloped pectoral muscles — which contributes to that rounded, forward-shoulder posture. Building chest strength, balanced with rowing work, helps restore upright, confident posture.

Form tip: Lower the dumbbells under control, touch them to chest level (or just above), and press back up. Pause briefly at the bottom.

Common mistake: Bouncing or rushing the eccentric (lowering) portion. The lowering phase is where a huge amount of muscle-building stimulus occurs. Slow it down.

9. Hip Hinge / Conventional Deadlift

Muscles worked: Entire posterior chain — hamstrings, glutes, lower and upper back, traps, core, grip

I’ve listed the RDL earlier as a more accessible starting point, but once you’re comfortable with the hinge pattern, progressing to a conventional deadlift — pulling a loaded barbell or pair of heavy dumbbells from the floor — is one of the most rewarding things you can do in training. It is the definitive test of full-body strength, and it makes you feel genuinely powerful in a way few exercises match.

For dads specifically: learning to pick things up properly from the floor — through the hips, not the lower back — is also how you stop throwing your back out every time you lift your kid or move furniture. This exercise teaches correct loading mechanics that carry over directly to life.

Form tip: Before you pull, create tension through the whole body — “push the floor away” rather than thinking about pulling the weight up.

Common mistake: Jerking the bar off the floor. Take the slack out of the bar slowly before committing to the pull. This protects your lower back and improves the lift.

Exercise 10: The One You’re Probably Underestimating

10. Plank Variations

Muscles worked: Deep core (transverse abdominis), obliques, shoulders, glutes, hip flexors

The plank is not boring. The plank, done properly — truly properly, with your body rigid, glutes squeezed, lower back flat, not sagging in the middle — is extraordinarily hard. Most people hold a mediocre plank for 60 seconds and think they’ve nailed it. They haven’t. A true plank, held with full-body tension and perfect position, will make you shake within 20 seconds.

Variations that keep it challenging: standard plank, side plank, plank with shoulder taps, RKC plank (squeeze everything as hard as possible), and plank to down-dog. Core stability directly underpins every other exercise on this list, and it directly supports the lower back health that dads over 35 need to prioritise.

Form tip: Squeeze your glutes and hollow your stomach as if you’re bracing for a punch. Every muscle engaged, every second.

Common mistake: Letting the hips sag or rise. Your body should form a straight line from heels to crown of head.

Putting It All Together Safely

The most important thing I can pass on is this: the exercises on this list are only as good as the consistency and progression you bring to them. Doing goblet squats with the same dumbbells for six months will get you nowhere. You need to gradually increase the demand over time — which is exactly what progressive overload is all about, and it’s much simpler to apply than most people think.

Equally, there’s no heroism in training through pain or ignoring warning signs your body sends you. Learning to train around aches and avoid common injuries is every bit as important as the exercises themselves once you’re past 35. Recovery, sleep, and managing load are part of the programme — not an afterthought.

Start with three or four of these movements if the full list feels overwhelming. Get comfortable with the form. Then add more. Within a few months you’ll have a working vocabulary of movement patterns that can serve you for decades — and a body that can actually keep up when a four-year-old wants to be chased around the garden.

That Sunday afternoon in the garden is what keeps me showing up. Your reason will be your own. But I promise the work is worth it.