In just seven days, you can view the world with a new perspective.

A simple dumbbell can help you firm up, get strong and feel fabulous—in just minutes a day.

Dumbbells are a simple and powerful tool for building muscle strength and toning your body—two key ingredients to feeling and looking your best!

As early as your 30s, you start to lose muscle, and it accelerates as you age. Maintaining strong muscles is essential—not just for lifting groceries and picking up your kids, but also for staying agile, energetic and injury-free. Muscles fuel your body’s metabolism, helping you burn more calories and making weight management easier. Strong muscles also lower your chances of developing chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes and certain cancers.

If you’re not doing some type of strength training, like lifting weights, age-related muscle loss can leave you feeling weaker, sluggish, achy and more prone to injuries, weight gain and health problems.

The good news: You don’t need hours in the gym to make an impact! The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Physical Activity Guidelines recommends doing muscle-strengthening exercises for all the major muscle groups just two days a week to maintain muscle and improve overall health.

That’s where the 7-Day Get Started Dumbbell Challenge comes in. With just one week of simple, targeted exercises, you’ll be ready to meet that recommendation and start reaping the benefits of strength training!

Here’s how to do it each day:
• Start by warming up with 10 reps of the day’s exercise without dumbbells.
• Follow with 10 to 12 reps using dumbbells.
• Choose a weight that challenges you by the last rep—but still allows you to maintain good form.
• Don’t hold your breath. Exhale as you lift and breathe normally.

Day 2: Squats Strengthen your glutes and thighs so you can sprint up the stairs with ease. Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart. Hold one dumbbell with both hands in front of your chest. Bend your hips and knees, lowering as if you’re sitting back into a chair. Hold for a second, then stand up.

Day 3: Chest Presses Tone your chest, shoulders and arms for more power when pushing a door or heavy cart. Lie on a bench or the floor. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, bending your elbows so the dumbbells are over your chest. Extend your arms, raising the dumbbells straight up. Hold for a second, then slowly lower.

Day 4: Bent-Over Rows Sculpt a strong back for better posture. Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart. Holding a dumbbell in each hand, hinge at the hips so the dumbbells are hanging below your shoulders. Keep your abs tight to support your lower back. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and bend your arms, pulling the dumbbells toward your rib cage, elbows pointing toward the ceiling. Hold for a second, then slowly lower.

Day 5: Calf Raises Create powerful legs for walking and running. Stand with your feet slightly apart. Hold a dumbbell in each hand with your arms down at your sides. Lift your heels off the floor, coming up onto the balls of your feet and toes. Hold for a second, then slowly lower.

Day 6: Bicep Curls Firm your arms to make picking up heavy objects easier. Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart. Hold a dumbbell in each hand with your arms at your sides, palms facing in. Bend your elbows and lift the dumbbells up toward your shoulders, rotating your hands so your palms face your shoulders. Hold for a second, then slowly lower.

Day 7: Torso Twists Tighten your abs to help protect your back. Sit on the floor with your legs bent and feet on the floor. Hold a dumbbell with both hands in front of your chest. Raise your feet off the floor so you’re balancing on your tailbone. Keep your abs tight. Slowly rotate to the right, bringing the dumbbell toward the floor. Hold for a second, then slowly return to the center. Repeat rotating to the left.

Congratulations on completing the 7-Day Total Body Dumbbell Challenge! For more benefits, do each of these exercises at least twice a week. There are several ways to organize the exercises to hit that goal:

• For fewer, longer workouts: Do all 7 exercises two or three days a week on nonconsecutive days.
• For more frequent, shorter workouts: Do overhead presses and chest presses one day. Do bent-over rows and bicep curls the next day. Do squats, calf raises and torso twists the following day. Repeat three more days during the week.
• For an in-between option: Do upper body exercises (overhead presses, chest presses, bent-over rows and bicep curls) one day, and lower body and core exercises (squats, calf raises and torso twists) the next day. Repeat two more days during the week.
• You can also work up to doing 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps of each exercise and increase the amount of weight you’re lifting as you get stronger.