Easy Seated Free-Weight Exercises

Any time you do an exercise in a seated position rather than standing, you place less stress on your body. This is because your lower body's postural muscles, such as your calves, for example, don't have to support your body weight. The result of this is less oxygen delivery to your lower body's musculature, which means less blood flow is needed by these muscles and therefore a lower heart rate. To make matters even less stressful on your body, you should do seated exercises that mainly involve only one joint at a time. These types of exercises are known as isolation exercises. Use dumbbells to do the movements if you want a free and comfortable range of motion. Perform three sets of 10 to 15 reps per exercise.

  1. Seated Side Raise

    • The seated side raise works two muscles: the lateral deltoids and the supraspinatus. Both are a part of your shoulders. Sit on the bench and grip a dumbbell in each hand. Use a bench with a back rest to lessen the stress on your postural back muscles, such as your erector spinae. Once you are seated with your arms down at your sides, raise your arms up and out to the side. Stop the raising motion when your arms are parallel to the ground, hold for a second and then return your arms down to your sides.

    Seated Bent-Over Side Raise

    • This exercise also works your shoulders, but in this case, it is your posterior deltoids, infraspinatus and teres minor muscles that are at work. Sit on the end of a bench holding a dumbbell in each hand and lean your torso as much forward as you can. Position the dumbbells under your thighs with your arms straight and then raise your arms away from your sides until they are parallel to the ground. Hold for a second and lower the dumbbells back down.

    Seated Curl

    • This is a variation of the good ol' biceps curl that you see almost everyone do at the gym. Being seated with your back against the backrest helps to minimize cheating during the movement. As you may have already figured, seated curls work your biceps. But what you may not be aware of is that the exercise also works a muscle called the brachialis, which is located under your biceps. To do the seated curl, sit on the bench with your back on the back rest, hold a dumbbell in each hand by your sides with your palms facing forward and then bend your elbows as much as you can. Squeeze your biceps during this upward motion, hold for a second at the peak and then extend your elbows to return the dumbbells to the starting position.

    Seated Shrug

    • Seated shrugs target the upper trapezius at the sides of your neck and upper-back region. This exercise is as easy as it gets. Sit on the bench with a backrest, hold a dumbbell in each hand and put your arms by your sides and then shrug. Yes, that's it. When you do this shrug, think of raising your shoulders as if you were trying to touch your ears. Squeeze at the peak of the motion and then lower your shoulders downwards.