Dolph Lundgren’s 5-Exercise Chest and Back Workout at 68: Simple, Controlled and Still Strong
UPLIFT IRON CLUBAt 68, Dolph Lundgren is still training with a very recognizable strength-training template: pull, press, control the rep, and do not make the session more complicated than it needs to be. A recent chest-and-back workout he shared uses only five exercises—seated cable rows, lat pulldowns, chest-supported rows, incline pressing and a machine fly. The exercise list is ordinary. That is exactly why it is useful.
Lundgren has spent decades around lifting and martial arts, and his training has changed as he has aged. He has also spoken publicly about continuing to train through and after cancer treatment, and about adjusting sessions to what his body can handle. The lesson is not that everyone should copy an actor's exact routine. It is that a simple upper-body session can still cover a lot of ground when each movement has a clear job.
The Five Exercises Cover More Than the List Suggests
The workout is built around three pulling movements and two chest movements. The seated cable row trains horizontal pulling and gives the mid-back, lats and rear shoulder musculature a stable job. The lat pulldown adds a vertical pull. The chest-supported row returns to horizontal pulling but removes much of the need to hold the torso rigid against gravity. Together, those three movements give the back repeated work from slightly different angles without requiring a long menu of specialty exercises.
On the pressing side, the incline press gives the chest a loaded compound movement while bringing the front delts and triceps along for the ride. The machine fly then shifts the job toward shoulder horizontal adduction and lets the chest work without the triceps being the limiting factor. That is enough variety for one session without turning the workout into a catalog of every chest and back exercise in the gym.
The split also reflects a useful priority: large pulling volume can be a good match for people who spend a lot of time sitting, driving or working with the arms in front of the body. That does not mean a three-to-two pull-to-press ratio is mandatory. It simply shows that a workout can be biased toward what the lifter wants to emphasize while still training both sides of the upper body.
Supported Pulling Lets the Back Do More of the Work
Two details stand out in Lundgren's pull selection: the cable row is seated, and one of the rows is chest-supported. Both choices reduce the number of moving parts compared with a heavy unsupported barbell row. You still have to brace, but you are not asking the lower back and hips to hold a bent-over position while the upper back is trying to produce the set.
That can matter more as recovery becomes a bigger part of programming. A lifter does not get extra points for making every back exercise a whole-body event. If the goal is to train the lats, rhomboids and upper back, a supported row can create plenty of local effort without requiring the same amount of fatigue from the spinal erectors and hamstrings. The lat pulldown does something similar from a vertical angle.
The important distinction is that “supported” does not mean “easy.” You can still train hard on these movements. The benefit is that the hard part is more likely to be the target musculature rather than balance, grip position or maintaining a bent-over torso. For an older lifter—or any lifter who already has enough demanding lower-body work elsewhere in the week—that is often a sensible trade.
Controlled Pressing Beats Chasing an Ego Number
Lundgren has talked for years about moving away from the heaviest possible weights and paying more attention to how he feels. That matches the two chest exercises in this session. An incline press gives him a straightforward way to load the chest, while the machine fly provides a stable finishing movement where the goal is tension and range rather than a big number on the stack.
Controlled reps matter because strength training is not only about the weight listed on the machine. If a lifter shortens the range, bounces the bottom or lets the shoulders roll forward just to move a heavier load, the extra kilograms can reduce the quality of the stimulus. A slightly lighter set performed through a repeatable range gives you a cleaner way to judge progress from week to week.
That becomes especially relevant when training longevity is the goal. Lundgren has said that he now combines strength work with cardio and functional training, and that he adjusts sessions around recovery rather than forcing a plan regardless of how he feels. The bigger point is not to train cautiously forever. It is to spend your hard effort on work that you can recover from and repeat.
What Ordinary Lifters Can Copy From Lundgren's Session
The easiest way to use this workout is as a template rather than a prescription. Start with a horizontal pull, add a vertical pull, use another supported back movement, then finish with one compound chest press and one isolation movement. Two or three hard working sets per exercise is enough for many people if the same muscles are trained again later in the week.
A practical version could look like this: seated cable row for 3 sets of 8–12, lat pulldown for 3 sets of 8–12, chest-supported row for 2 sets of 10–15, incline dumbbell or machine press for 3 sets of 6–10, and machine or cable fly for 2 sets of 10–15. Keep one or two reps in reserve on most sets, then push the final set of a movement harder if technique is still clean.
The routine is also easy to personalize. If your back already gets plenty of volume, use two pulls and two chest movements. If your shoulders dislike a particular incline angle, change it. If a supported row feels better than a free-weight version, use it. The useful principle is consistency: pick movements you can perform well, progress them gradually and keep enough recovery in the week to make the next session productive.
For an older trainee, the most important variable is not age by itself but recoverability. Sleep, joint history, other sports, medical history and total weekly activity all change how much volume makes sense. A 68-year-old with decades of lifting experience may tolerate more than a younger beginner with poor technique. The useful takeaway is to scale the session to the person rather than treating a celebrity routine as an age-based prescription.
That is the real reason Lundgren's workout is interesting. It is not a secret celebrity program. It is a reminder that a strong physique can be maintained with familiar exercises when the execution, effort and recovery strategy are sensible. At 68, “simple and repeatable” is not a compromise. It is often the point.
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