Anti-ageing exercises

AGE: 30's to 40's

Your exercise priorities
Women need to kick-start resistance training to gain stress-busting strength and endurance and keep their metabolism revved up. At this age both men and women need to commit to getting physically active on a daily basis.

Specific exercises
Compound strength exercises that engage a number of muscle groups, increasing calorie expenditure and bone density, such as the 'four-point lunge'.

What it does
Shapes, strengthens and lengthens the whole of the thigh. Great exercise to start with as it stretches as it tones and addresses virtually all the muscles in the thigh. Furthermore, the large number of muscles used in this exercise burns extra calories.

What you do
Stand on the floor, a low bench or bottom stair. Extend one leg back with a large stride so the leg has only a slight bend at the knee, lower the back leg knee towards the floor, straighten the leg and bring the extended leg back to the start position. This takes four counts. Change sides and repeat.

AGE: 40's-50's

Your exercise priorities
Stop 'middle-age spread' and get into good exercise habits.

Specific exercises
Master good abdominal techniques and get results from your abdominal exercises. Mastering the rib-hip connection will have a huge impact on helping you to keep your midriff toned. Combine these abdominal exercises with daily cardio exercise such as brisk walking and you are on to a winner.

The rib-hip connection
For an instant, smaller, trimmer waistline. To master the 'rib-hip connection' lie on the floor with your knees bent, place your hands around your rib cage with finger tips in towards your breast bone.

As you take a deep breath in, feel your rib cage expand. This is how most people start their tummy exercises. Stop! By doing this you will get a bigger waist!

To combat this, as you breath out, imagine you are wearing a corset which needs to be tightened up. As you drop down you will have engaged your internal oblique muscles, which will help you regain a 'pinched-in' waist. Try to feel relaxed and comfortable in this position. Engage the rib-hip connection before doing any abdominal exercise.

Exercise: Belt pulls
First, put on a snug-fitting belt. Come onto all fours with your hands under your wrists and your knees under your hips. Start with your abdominals relaxed and you may find your tummy is touching your belt.

Now, keeping the back straight, firmly draw in the abdominal muscles so you create space between your tummy and your belt. You should be able to slip your fingers in between your belt and your tummy. Hold this position for 30 seconds breathing smoothly throughout. Relax for 10 seconds and repeat five times.

Exercise: Moving dead bug
Start in the 'dead bug' position, lying on your back, hands directly over your shoulders and knees bent at a 90-degree angle to engage your abdominals. Slowly lower the same leg and arm towards the floor, keeping the same distance between the hand and the knee. Gently 'kiss' the floor with your heel and slowly lift the arm and leg back up to the starting dead bug position.

Joanna's top tip: Keeping the same distance between the arm and knee is crucial in this exercise to help you imagine you have a large beach ball between them.

Tips for every age

• Stop beating yourself up for not being able to find 60 minutes all in one go. Instead, adopt a workout wedge approach to your exercise, 'wedging' it in convenient blocks of time. Studies show benefits are still achieved even in bouts of 10 minutes.
• Stop lulling yourself into a false sense of security thinking you are already physically active. Chances are your activity levels may be more related to how busy your brain is (with all the different commitments you may have with your family, social and work life) which does not necessarily translate into a physically active body.