Diet & Fitness 

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Workouts for your age

Keep young and beautiful - not to mention healthy - with these workouts and exercises tailored for every age group, to suit you and your family.

Age: 7 -16's

Your exercise task: To get your kids moving for at least 60 minutes everyday and for you to lead by example!

Why: The Chief Medical Officer recommends our children get at least 60 minutes physical activity everyday to help build fit bodies and a strong skeletal system. Reduced physical activity levels have also been linked to poor social behaviour and lower academic grades.

Ideas to get you started:

• Start a family pedometer challenge and each week set a prize for the family member who has done the most steps.


• Allocate an activity ambassador each week - they get to choose what activity the family do jointly at the weekend.


• Get on your bike - cycling is about the best family activity you can do as every one will be exercising at their appropriate level.

Age: 25 -35's

Your exercise task: To achieve a variety of aerobic exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes (minimum intensity brisk walking) 5 times a week.

Why: Studies have shown that from the age of 25 on our aerobic capacity decreases by 1- 2 % each year. This means your heart and lungs have to work harder to complete everyday tasks, though you may not feel it until you have to over-exert yourself such as running for a bus, or dashing up several flights of stairs to answer the phone. After the age of 30 the body secretes less growth hormone, stimulating the loss of lean body tissue and encouraging greater storage of fat.

Cardiovascular exercise boosts your energy expenditure important for weight management, maintains the stamina of your heart and lungs, improves your blood lipid profile which is important in protecting against heart disease and weight bearing cardio exercise such as brisk walking and jogging which enhances bone density.

A good age to start: Being physically active every day such as brisk walking and at least three more vigorous aerobic exercise sessions per week of at least 20 minutes duration.

A good age to stop: Making exercise and a keep fit campaign an annual event - integrate it into your everyday life now.

Age: 35-45

Your exercise task: Complete an activity audit to establish exactly how physically active you are. To give you a realistic perspective, invest in a pedometer, (a simple stepping device you can wear on your belt to measure the number of steps you take a day). Record how many steps you take in one day and aim to build up to 10,000 each day, this is the recommended amount to see an improvement in your health, helping to protect you against up to 20 chronic diseases including hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and colon cancer. If you don't achieve 10,000, don't panic, aim to consistently add an extra 5 - 10% of steps each day until you are regularly achieving your 10,000.

Why: In your 30's women lose 140 - 170 g/5 - 6 oz of muscle mass a year and can gain as much if not more fat mass. If you are not doing any weight bearing activity by the age of 39 you could potentially have lost 4lbs/ 1.8 kg of muscle mass and replaced it with body fat, slowing your metabolism down further and putting you on the slippery road to further weight gain.

A good age to start: Taking 7,000 - 10,000 steps on a reliable and accurate pedometer ( see joannahall.com for details) every day and start some upper body toning exercises to enhance bone density.

A good age to stop: Always using the car, bus, or taxi as a way of getting you from A to B. You only have one body so start using your body and invest in its health.

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