Transform Your Health

Keeping muscles strong is crucial – for strength, balance and flexibility. And there’s no easier way than our tone-ups!

- Tanya Pearey

Build your strength

We all know that exercise is good for our health; it helps our bodies fight disease and maintains a healthy weight. And moves to build muscle are particularly important as we get older, says Woman’s Weekly GP Gill Jenkins. ‘Later in life, strengthening exercises are essential for maintaining good muscle strength, balance and tone, to keep independent and avoid falls.’

We start losing a lot of our muscle mass when we hit our 40s – at a rate of around 1% every year.

Try these easy moves to target all areas of your body – they’ll only take five minutes. Choose one to focus on each day. Just remember to do a five-minute warm-up and cool-down to avoid injury. & For a warm-up, try marching on the spot, star jumps, knee lifts, shoulder rolls, arm circles and leg swings. Make sure you do a series of gentle stretches to cool down after exercise.

For your legs

One-leg stands Hold the wall for support and slowly lift one leg out to the side. Hold for 10 seconds before lowering your leg and repeating on the other side. Do 10 repetitions on each leg.

Calf raises Hold onto the back of a chair. Slowly lift your heels from the floor, then lower back down. Repeat 10 times.