Morning exercise is a fantastic way to start your day. For one, it ensures you fit in a workout before you look at your to-do list and convince yourself that you don’t have time.

While some people like to jump straight into challenging workouts, many of us prefer to ease into the day with something gentler, and yoga can be perfect for that.

It can also help to lubricate the muscles and joints after sleep, helping to ease any stiffness.

Adriene Mishler—better known to her more than 13 million subscribers on YouTube as Yoga With Adriene—recently shared a 12-minute practice designed to be done first thing in the morning.

But along with the physical benefits of morning yoga, Mishler adds a mental benefit by encouraging you to set an intention for the 10 minutes of movement that you can carry into the rest of your day.

How to do Yoga With Adriene’s 12-minute morning routine

You can follow along with Mishler’s YouTube video as she guides you through the routine in real time. Some of the exercises are done from a kneeling position, so if you have a yoga mat, it’s a good idea to roll it out to support your joints and make the routine more comfortable. If not, simply use a blanket or a towel.

How setting an intention in morning yoga has helped me

Mishler encourages viewers to set an intention at the start of this practice. She says that this should be an intention for the day, either a word or a sentence that you want to channel throughout the day. “You can always elaborate on it later,” she adds.

Setting an intention is a common yoga practice, but when I first started yoga, I wasn’t sure what this meant and found instructors could be purposefully vague, because setting the intention should be personal.

I wouldn’t want to set your intention for you, but in case an example helps spark inspiration, I’ve set an intention that’s as simple as “slow down” or “practice self-love”; or that’s specific to the day ahead, such as “take a moment for yourself” or “remember that work isn’t everything”.

I’ve found setting intentions during yoga really helpful. It provides me with some time to think over how I want to feel day-to-day and I have the whole practice to think about it and try and channel that in my movement.

For example, if my intention is to take more time to relax, I may skip some of the more difficult poses and spend more time in child’s pose.

As Mishler's morning practice is short and sweet, it’s a great way to try out setting an intention for your day if you’re new to the idea.

Of course, you can also simply focus on the stretches in the routine if you don’t feel like setting an intention and it should still help you feel less stressed, thanks to the relaxing benefits of movement.

I’ve been practising yoga for more than 10 years and have worked with hundreds of teachers at studios all over the world. But I always come back to the routines Adriene Mishler posts on her Yoga With Adriene YouTube channel.

The routines are simple to follow and always make me feel better, physically and mentally.

Her latest video is a 12-minute routine for stiff hips. Since I regularly experience hips and lower back pain from working at a desk, I was excited to give it a try.

It’s a gentle routine, which is ideal for breaking up the working day, providing my body a break from sitting and my mind a break from thinking.

How to do Yoga With Adriene’s gentle yoga for tight hips

You don’t need any equipment for this routine, just a yoga mat or something comfortable and non-slip to lie on.

My experience trying Yoga With Adriene’s gentle yoga for tight hips

Despite being just 12 minutes long, this practice includes five of my favourite hip stretches.

The routine moves through cat-cow, child’s pose, low lunge, figure-four and butterfly. These are all beginner-friendly poses that activate different parts of the hips.

Mishler generally advises to hold the poses passively, which meant my muscles had time to relax and I could move even deeper into the stretch

By the end of the routine, my hips felt a lot less stiff and sitting at my desk was more comfortable. I’ll definitely go back to this routine as a simple but effective way to stretch my hips in future and I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to improve their hip flexibility.

I work at a desk, so it’s not unusual to get to lunchtime, or even the end of the day, and realize I’ve spent hours on end sitting. It doesn’t make me feel my best, physically or mentally, and I know I’m not alone.

I’d love to make time for a daily workout or long walk, but it's not always possible. That’s why I’m keen to find small pockets of time to fit in movement where I can.

My favorite yoga instructor, Adriene Mishler—better known online to her 13.5 million followers as Yoga With Adriene—recently shared a routine that fit my needs perfectly.

It’s for people who spend hours sitting and it takes less than 10 minutes to complete. Plus, the whole routine is done standing, so you don't even need to roll out a yoga mat.

Watch Yoga With Adriene's yoga for people who sit all day routine

No equipment is needed for this routine—just enough space to stand comfortably and move your arms overhead and to the sides.

Mishler guides you through the practice so you don’t even have to look at your screen too much.

My experience trying Yoga With Adriene’s yoga for people who sit all day routine

This routine is simple and accessible and I came away feeling more relaxed with less tightness in my shoulders and hips.

The hip circles at the start provided immediate relief. Actively mobilizing my hips felt great, given that sitting for long periods reduces their range of motion.

The forward fold that followed felt like the most satisfying full-body stretch, releasing tension from my legs all the way to my upper back.

The routine also includes neck and shoulder stretches and a few short balancing poses synchronized with the breath, which has a calming effect on the nervous system.

Overall, it felt good to take a mini break and move my body gently without having to make time—or get changed—for a full workout or longer yoga flow.

It’s also a routine that’s simple enough to revisit anytime and I'd recommend it if you want to minimize the effects of too many hours at your desk.

You may have heard about the benefits of home workouts, but are they actually as effective as going to the gym? Well, according to new research, they absolutely are. In fact, you apparently don't need a gym membership at all to build strength.

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) – which is the largest sports medicine organisation in the world – recently updated its training guidelines for the first time in 17 years.

According to a review of data from over 30,000 participants, non-traditional training, including resistance bands, bodyweight exercises and home-based routines can help you build strength, promote hypertrophy and improve physical function.

The overall takeaway from the review is that doing anything is much, much better than doing nothing. “The best resistance training program is the one you’ll actually stick with,” concluded Stuart M. Phillips an author on the review and a professor of kinesiology.

Rather than recommending a specific form of exercise, researchers suggest that doing any type of resistance training twice a week is what will make the biggest difference for most people.

The review found that the more personal the workout programme, the better. Enjoyment is a big factor, as sticking with a workout programme consistently is the most important thing.

Although complicated training techniques can be useful for athletes, researchers found that they're just not necessary for the average person. This includes methods such as training to failure, which involves completing as many reps as possible of an exercise until you physically can't continue. The review also found no major differences between using gym-based machines and free weights like dumbbells and barbells.

So, as long as you’re doing some type of resistance training twice a week and targeting your whole body, you’re probably doing enough, whether that’s at a fancy gym or in your living room. Let this be a reminder not to overcomplicate your workout routine.

Weight Watchers has teamed up with the Jennifer Aniston–fronted fitness app Pvolve to offer strength training to its members.

Subscribers to Weight Watchers Core, Core+, Med+, GLP-1 Success and Menopause programs will get exclusive access to many of Pvolve’s classes with the option to upgrade to unlock over 1,700 on-demand workouts.

Members will also get a Pvolve starter kit with fitness equipment, including gliders, heavy ankle band and Aniston’s favorite “must-have”—the P.band—for a reduced rate.

The partnership reflects the recognition of the benefits strength training can bring for weight loss, particularly for people using GLP-1 medications.

“This is because when the body loses weight—particularly significant weight loss—some of it can come from lean mass, including muscle,” Weight Watchers’ chief medical officer Dr Kim Boyd tells Fit&Well.

“In some studies, lean mass can make up about 30% of the total weight lost, including during GLP-1 treatment, if muscle isn’t actively preserved [by doing strength training].

“Muscle is critical for overall health—it supports metabolic health, physical strength and long-term weight maintenance. Losing too much muscle can reduce metabolic rate and make it harder to maintain weight loss over time. That’s why strength training is such an important part of the equation.”

There’s more to it than that, though. Strength training is also essential for longevity, whether you’re taking weight-loss medications or not.

“We naturally lose muscle mass as we age,” Pvolve head trainer and VP of programming Maeve McEwen Myers tells Fit&Well, “so it’s extremely important to incorporate heavy weights and resistance training into our weekly routine to help build and preserve muscle.

“Muscle mass supports our metabolism, insulin sensitivity (which helps regulate blood sugar levels), bone density, and overall health and longevity. At Pvolve, as well as lifting weights for muscle growth, we incorporate movements that improve mobility, stability and train the body in all planes of motion.”

To give you a flavor of what Weight Watchers’ members can expect, and to help everyone get started with strength training at home, we asked Myers to recommend some of her favorite beginner-friendly moves. Here’s what she came back with.

1. Hinge to single-leg march

Sets: 2 Reps: 8-10 each side

• Stand holding dumbbells by your sides.
• Engage your core and tap your left foot lightly on the floor in front of you.
• Step your left foot back and hinge forward at your hips as you bend both knees to lower slowly.
• When your knee is just above the floor, push through your right foot to stand upright, bringing your left foot forward and raising your knee to hip height and bending it to 90°.
• Go straight into the next rep.
• Do all your reps on one side, then switch sides.

“Hinging is a functional movement pattern that we do many times throughout the day,” says Myers, “and adding weights helps build strength and muscle in the glutes.”

This move is also good for boosting balance, she says, adding: “As we lose muscle mass and with age, we naturally become less stable. The stability and balance training we incorporate at Pvolve can help reduce risk of injury, especially later in life.”

2. Alternating row

Sets: 2 Reps: 8-10 each side

• Hold a dumbbell in your right hand.
• Step your right foot back and bend your left knee so that you are in a split stance.
• Lean forward slightly and extend your arm to the floor.
• Keeping your legs and pelvis stable, bend your right elbow and draw it past your torso to lift the dumbbell to your right hip, while extending your left arm towards the floor.
• Hold the weight at the top for a second, then slowly reverse the movement to the starting position.
• Do all your reps on one side, then switch sides.

Myers says she recommends this move because “strengthening and building muscle in our back helps support our posture. The alternating arm movement helps improve mobility in our mid and upper back, which is an area that tends to get restricted.”

3. Kneeling lunge to overhead press

Sets: 2 Reps: 8-10 each side

• Adopt a half-kneeling position with your right knee on the floor and your left foot flat on the floor diagonally to the left in front of you, holding a dumbbell in your right hand by your right shoulder.
• Extend your left arm out to the side at shoulder height.
• Lean forward into the kneeling lunge to stretch the inner thighs
• Return to the starting position and press the dumbbell overhead.
• Slowly lower the weight down and repeat.
• Do all your reps on one side, then switch sides.

Myers says this move helps to open up tight hips, adding that “it also helps to maintain strength and functional mobility in our shoulders as we often need to reach overhead in our day-to-day.”

4. Biceps curl

Sets: 2 Reps: 8-10

• Stand in a split stance holding dumbbells in front of your thighs, palms facing forward.
• Keeping your shoulders back, chest facing forwards and uppers arms close to the side of your torso, bend your elbows to lift the dumbbells to your shoulders.
• Slowly reverse the movement to the start.

“This is a functional move that builds strength and muscle mass in your arms,” explains Myers.

New research published in The Lancethas reported that there could be longevity benefits for those willing to add just five-minute pockets of movement to their day.

Lead author Professor Ulf Ekelund, a specialist in physical activity and health, tells Fit&Well that there was a hole in our current understanding of the relationship between movement and mortality.

While we know the basics, that sedentary people are at a higher risk of all-cause mortality than those who are active, Ekelund explained that his study focuses specifically on the impact of minor changes.

“This is the first study examining how small changes in moderate intensity physical activity may prevent premature deaths in the total population if all individuals adhere to these changes,” he says.

The meta-analysis drew on studies that used activity trackers to collect minute-by-minute data, making it more accurate than older studies, which tend to rely on self-reported data.

And while previous studies have estimated the number of deaths averted if inactive people met the World Health Organization (WHO) physical activity guidelines—which recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate-to-high-intensity exercise per week—this new study focuses on smaller, daily movements.

What the study found

Ekelund, who worked as a consulting expert on the most recent iteration of the WHO guidelines, explains that the approach does not consider that the greatest benefits occur if those with low activity levels make small adjustments.

The WHO’s recommended 150 minutes a week translates to around 20 minutes per day, but there are benefits to increasing your movement levels even less.

“We learned that small changes in physical activity or sedentary time may have large impacts on preventing deaths if all individuals in the population adhere to these small changes.”

The findings show that adding just five minutes of moderate-intensity exercise to your day could lead to a 6%-10% decrease in mortality risk.

Ekelund adds that slightly different parameters can be applied for a similar result: reducing the amount of time you spend sedentary by just 30 minutes a day lowers the risk of mortality by 3%-7.3%.

A brisk walk could be the answer

You can disrupt sedentary time with something as simple as getting up and walking around your apartment, doing a quick at-home 1,000 step walking workout or a five-minute exercise snack.

Moving for five minutes every hour will easily add up to 30 minutes less sedentary time in a working day.

“The most common activity with moderate intensity is brisk walking,” says Ekelund. “This is safe, does not require additional equipment and you do not need to go to the gym.

“Walking up and down stairs is also a great activity. Importantly, every minute counts.”

Who can benefit from these snack-sized changes?

I asked Ekelund to explain whether adding the five-minute brisk walks would impact someone who already exercises regularly and someone sedentary in the same way.

“Those who currently do very little activity are the ones who gain the most from increasing their activity,” he says.

He explains that, when we view the benefits of increased activity, there is a correlated improvement in mortality risk. The mortality risk reduces steeply with each five-minute increment added and plateaus at around 25 minutes, which aligns with the WHO guidelines.

This plateau doesn’t mean that you should stop at 25 minutes, but that the improvement to your mortality risk stops increasing after this point. Other benefits may continue to accumulate, though.

If you are someone who is already fit and moving the recommended 150 minutes a week, your mortality risk is already lower than that of someone sedentary, so the decrease in risk will be less significant.

Here at Fit&Well, we’re on a mission to inspire you to try activities that could improve your wellbeing.

In this case, I’d like to inspire bike owners (including those who own an indoor exercise bikes) to complete our survey about cycling. And how could that improve your wellbeing? Well, agree to share your name and email and you’ll be in with a chance of winning a $300 Amazon voucher (or £250 if you’re based in the UK or Ireland). Hopefully that covers the inspiration bit, too.

The survey should take between 10 and 20 minutes to complete and will ask about how often you cycle and why, the equipment you own and where you buy it from, and where you get your information about cycling, among other things.

The survey is open until March 26, 2026, with full T&Cs available to review before you begin the survey.

Take the BikeTrack 2026 survey >>

I was first introduced to Adriene Mishler—better known as Yoga With Adriene—more than 10 years ago when I discovered her 30 days of yoga challenge in January 2014.

However, as I’ve gotten older and busier, committing to practising yoga every day for 30 days is no longer practical. Thankfully, Mishler’s January 2026 challenge is far more realistic, while still providing the opportunity for a new year reset we all crave.

The series is called Return and it involves four videos that Mishler will post each weekend. On the final weekend in January, Mishler will do a live class, with the intention of bringing her community together.

What does Yoga With Adriene’s Return series involve?

In the video announcing the series, Mishler says the series is an opportunity to “return to the thing that matters most”, explaining that it’s all about self-reflection and grounding.

The yoga instructor is encouraging her worldwide community to get involved with the series, which she says will provide “friendship and accountability partners across the globe”.

A video will go live every weekend in January and Mishler encourages people to follow the practice that week on any day that suits.

Each yoga practice has a different focus and Mishler has shared the following titles:

• Week 1: Sense
• Week 2: Ground
• Week 3: Listen
• Week 4: Center

Is Yoga With Adriene still doing a 30-day challenge in January?

Although Mishler won’t be sharing a new yoga video every day in January as she has in previous years, she will be putting together a digital calendar for the month.

The digital calendar will suggest one of Mishler’s YouTube videos for each day of the month, which will include the new practices.

How can I get involved with Yoga With Adriene's January series?

Mishler will be posting the yoga videos to her YouTube channel each weekend. Check back each week to find them, or subscribe to her channel to see them.

Mishler also has a newsletter, which you can subscribe to to receive the links to the practices once they are live.

Hello and welcome to our live blog of Cyber Monday fitness deals, a last chance to get your hands on equipment that will genuinely make a difference to your wellbeing.

I’m the editor of Fit&Well, and I couldn’t help but marvel at how out-of-date the phrase “Cyber Monday” sounds when we’re all walking around with powerful computers in our pockets.

According to internet lore, the term was coined in 2005 because people waited until they returned to work after Thanksgiving to shop online using their company’s superior connection speeds.

Whether you’re shopping on company time or trying to find a bargain late into the evening, I hope the results of my and my team’s hard work over the weekend will point you in the direction of some life-changing purchases.

Already we’re seeing extra reductions on recommended deals, such as Columbia walking shoes for $42 and $50 off this-season’s Skechers.

Retailer Cyber Monday fitness sales

• Amazon: up to 55% off walking pads and more
• Walmart: thousands off home gyms
• Dicks’: up to 50% off
• Target: 46% off Apple Airpods 4

Brand Cyber Monday sales

• Bowflex: up to $600 off
• Gymshark: up to 50% off our favorite gymwear, plus an extra 25% off for Cyber Monday
• Lululemon: includes reductions on the iconic Align leggings
• Alo Yoga: 30% off sitewide with free membership
• Pvolve: 20% off the Jennifer Aniston–fronted fitness app
• BetterMe: up to 50% off Pilates equipment and workout wear
• Whoop: save up to $70
• NordicTrack: up to $1,300 off smart home cardio machines
• Peloton: up to $1,550 off treadmills

Shoes

Weights

Fitness trackers

Pilates

Live coverage

Extra 25% off at Gymshark with Cyber Monday code with EXTRA25

Well done if you’ve held your nerve—Gymshark has rewarded your patience with an extra 25% off for Cyber Monday. Just add the code EXTRA25 at checkout—code expires 10pm PST December 1, 2025. Here are six fits to start you off, or check out the entire Gymshark Cyber Monday sale.

Another better than Black Friday offer—Nutribullet Flex down to $42.99

I’ve spotted another Cyber Monday deal that beats what was on offer for Black Friday. The convenient, portable, battery-powered Nutribullet Flex was reduced by 29% to $49.99, but the gunmetal grey colorway has dropped down to $42.49, just shy of 40% off.

My colleague Lou Mudge just tested the blender and was won over, with the Flex becoming the favorite of the many blenders she owns.

Three things to buy if you want to sleep better

When I’ve had trouble sleeping, I would have paid any amount of money to resolve it. There are plenty of free things to try first—for instance a body scan meditation, breathing exercises or gentle yoga poses—but in the past year, three writers have found their way to better rest with different sleep aids, and all three are enjoying Cyber Monday reductions.

This training shoe can do it all and it's less than $60

This simple sneaker tops our list of the best cross-training shoes, thanks to its price and versatility.

According to NASM-trainer and reviewer Jennifer Rizzuto, it's got ample cushioning to feel comfortable for walks and very short runs, but it still feels stable enough for fast HIIT sessions and dumbbell workouts.

Plus, its simple, streamlined aesthetic means it works well with casual outfits, too.

It usually retails at $80 but you can get 30% off site-wide on Under Armour at the moment, which brings the price down to $56.

There's free shipping available, as well!

The watch that helped my finally run 5k in under 30 minutes is at its lowest-ever price

I've been trying to run a 5k in under 30 minutes since 2020 and I finally managed it at the end of last year thanks to the coaching on the Coros Pace 3.

There isn't a huge discount available on the watch (Coros rarely discounts its items heavily) but this is the cheapest it will drop to.

Wearing the watch for several months taught me all about pacing, recovery and how drastically sleep and illness can impact performance.

My partner nabbed the watch immediately once I got an Apple Watch to test, but I very much intend on getting it back when I want to start working on my 10km run times.

I love finding new recipes for high-protein snacks, especially healthy protein bars, because I’d rather make them at home than pay more for ready-made ones that are heavily processed.

Fuelling your body with lots of protein supports muscle recovery after a workout, plus it can help with weight maintenance because it’s very filling, so you are less likely to give in to sugary cravings.

I picked out a few high-protein snack recipes I liked the look of on Instagram, but I have to admit that two out of three I made were total disasters.

The banana bread didn’t rise, and it achieved the unwanted combination of burnt on top and uncooked in the middle, while the choc chip cookies with “healthy benefits” (made with chia and pumpkin seeds as well as chickpeas) looked great but tasted of nothing.

I’m pleased to say it was a case of third time lucky with the high-protein granola bars by creator James Bok. In fact, I’ll definitely be baking these again as they were tasty, quick to make and packed with nutrients. The banana adds a subtle sweetness that is just right for someone like me who doesn’t really have a sweet tooth, and because it’s all natural ingredients, bar the protein powder, they don’t have that artificial aftertaste that many processed shop-bought bars have.

The bars also have a really good crunchy texture thanks to the nuts, chia and pumpkin seeds. If you want to avoid using protein powder, Bok recommends only using one banana and blending some peanut butter with the oats so that the mix binds together well.

How to make the granola bars

This recipe makes eight servings so that’s over a week’s worth of high-protein snacks ready to go. Each bar contains 16g of protein—32% of your daily recommended intake (although that will depend on the brand of protein powder you use, and if you are vegan, make sure you use a plant-based protein powder like pea, hemp, brown rice or soy).

They are rich in healthy fats from the pumpkin seeds, coconut oil and almonds, and with 6g fiber per serving, they are also good for the gut and heart.

At 317 calories per bar, they are quite high in calories for a snack, but you could half the portion size to counteract that.

The coconut oil also makes them rather high in saturated fats (6-8g per bar, which is 30% of the recommended daily limit), but again you could reduce the amount of coconut oil in the recipe from two tablespoons to one.

If you want to make the bars lower fat, you could also halve the almonds or add more oats.

When a big celebrity shares their fitness routine, I tend to approach it with a degree of skepticism. That's because most celebrities have more time and money than the average person to dedicate to working out—often it's part of their job! This means their workout routines can be pretty unrealistic.

But I was pleasantly surprised to see Riverdale and Masters Of The Universe star Camila Mendes' workout routine. Mendes' focus is strength and mobility, and her trainer LA Thoma Gustin has crafted a simple but effective routine that helps her reach both of those goals, which SELF Magazine recently shared.

The full workout takes one hour and it mostly consists of dumbbell and kettlebell exercises. The moves are all beginner-friendly, or can be scaled to be suitable for beginners, so anyone can try it.

I've been feeling bored by my workout routine recently, so I decided to give Mendes' workout a go to switch things up.

How to do Camila Mendes’ workout routine

This workout consists of a series of three-move circuits. Gustin recommends completing three rounds of each of three circuits, sandwiched between a warm-up and a cool-down.

What equipment do you need?

The main piece of equipment you’ll need for this routine is a dumbbell. If you don’t have access to a gym and are working out from home, adjustable dumbbells are ideal, so you can fine-tune how much weight you use, depending on how difficult you find the exercise.

But you could make do with a light dumbbell, or one light and one medium dumbbell. There is also one kettlebell exercise, but you can do that with a dumbbell or just using your bodyweight. Mendes shares that she did it with a wine bottle on a recent girls trip when she didn't have access to weights.

There’s one move that’s part of the warm-up that incorporates a foam roller, but you can always skip that if you don't have one. Mendes finishes the workout with treadmill sprints, but you can swap this out for any form of cardio if you don’t have access to a treadmill.

My experience trying Camila Mendes’ workout routine

I lift weights regularly and have been doing so for more than five years, but there are a few moves in Mendes’ workout that I’d never come across before, so I was excited to try it.

After following the warm-up, which felt great for my hips and shoulders, I got started with half-kneeling single-leg shoulder presses, tall plank rotations and hip thrusts (which I used a dumbbell for, instead of a barbell).

All of these moves not only challenged my strength, but my stability too. They involved balance, which meant that core strength was crucial, as well as isolating muscles like the shoulders, obliques and glutes.

The next set included push-ups, B-stance Romanian deadlifts with a rotation and bird dog rows, and those final two moves were new to me.

Adding a rotation to the RDL meant that it targeted the muscles on the outside of my leg, as well as my obliques. Again, they also required me to think about stabilising my body, and I think I would have found this exercise challenging even without weight.

I loved the bird dog rows, which challenged my balance while isolating my glutes and the muscles in my back. I’ll definitely be adding both of these moves into my future workouts.Next was a core circuit, which involved crunches and lateral V-ups. The V-ups were tough and engaged my entire core. If you’re a beginner, try starting with single-leg V-ups before moving attempting this version of the move.I didn’t have access to a treadmill, so I did 20-second sprint intervals on the assault bike instead, which was a fun way to get my heart rate up at the end of the session and gave me some good post-exercise endorphins.

My verdict on Camila Mendes’ workout

This is by far one of the best celebrity workouts I’ve come across. It’s a full-body workout that prioritises strength, mobility, stability and balance.

I often deal with shoulder pain, and Mendes has the same problem, so a lot of the moves in this routine are designed to stabilise the shoulder joints, which felt great.

I think this workout is ideal for anyone looking to build strength, injury-proof their body and train functionally. I’ll definitely be returning to it.

Walk into a gym and you’ll probably spot people doing one of two types of cardio. One is training flat out in short bursts, while the other is taking it slow and steady.

Certified trainer Mia Green falls firmly into the second category. The Oner Active athlete prefers to leave the intervals, fartlek and lactate threshold training for runners.

Instead, the 23-year-old says you can boost stamina, respiratory fitness and muscle simultaneously using nothing but the stair climber.

This cardio machine replicates a never-ending flight of stairs. You can increase its speed to make it more of a cardiovascular challenge, or its resistance to build strength.

Posting on Instagram, Green recently demonstrated her favorite way to use this device, tagging a stair climber routine onto the end of an upper-body push session.

But, she says, it’s equally effective—and versatile—as a standalone cardio workout.

“I find this more enjoyable [than intervals] as I can do other things at the same time—like read, edit or watch a TV show,” she tells Fit&Well.

How to do the workout

Green tends to set the StairMaster at level eight out of 20 and maintain this pace and resistance for the full 30 minutes.

“I like to use the StairMaster for a prolonged state of cardio rather than intense [interval] bursts,” says Green.

“I find 30 minutes at this level effective as I’m [working] at a sustained effort, keeping my heart rate elevated and improving my aerobic endurance and VO2 max over time.”

The trick is to find an effort level that allows you to maintain a rate of perceived exertion of 3-5 out of 10 for the entire 30 minutes.

As a general rule, this should be a pace that allows you to maintain conversation throughout, rather than being out of breath.

This form of cardio, she adds, is low-impact and uses larger muscles like the glutes, quads and hamstrings which “require more energy, increasing calorie burn”.

If your gym isn’t equipped with a stair climber, Green says an incline walk on a treadmill or outside can be just as effective. The 12-3-30 workout is a popular format if you have access to a treadmill.

Train your glutes at least once a week. That’s the recommendation from certified trainer and Oner Active athlete Mia Green.

Made up of the gluteus maximus—the largest muscle in the human body—the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus, together they form the buttocks and these three muscles are built for far more than just show.

Strong glutes help us squat, stand, walk, run, jump and hold a pain-free posture.

In a recent clip shared to her more than half a million Instagram followers, Green demonstrated a glute-focused dumbbell workout that has become a staple in her routine.

Speaking to Fit&Well, the 23-year-old says she recommends using this workout once or twice a week to “ensure you're not overtraining [the glutes] but that they are still receiving enough stimulus [to get stronger]”.

Green’s routine draws on four compound exercises that each target the glutes in subtly different ways.

• Romanian deadlifts involve a hinge motion, targeting the full posterior chain of the glutes, hamstrings and lower back to help develop functional strength.
• Next up, hip thrusts with a pulse hone in on the glutes, with the partial rep (the pulse) keeping the muscles under extra tension to promote growth.
• Green’s routine then moves on to Bulgarian split squats, requiring the glutes to stabilize the pelvis while targeting the quads, one leg at a time.
• She wraps up with wide-stance sumo squats that target the gluteus maximus, medius and minimus simultaneously.

While Green is clearly lifting some serious weight, she recommends anyone new to this workout or exercise generally to start light and focus on form first.

“It’s really important to note that your form still needs to be correct with whatever weight you’re using,” she says. The weight you lift and the number of reps you aim for should always come second to how you lift.

That said, once you’re comfortable with the exercises, Green suggests opting for a weight that means you’re near failure—being unable to complete any more reps with good form—in the last couple of reps of each exercise. “That’s best for muscle growth,” says Green.

Green can be seen using wrist straps with the first exercise. “I find them very helpful when lifting heavy where you may feel as though your grip strength is becoming a limiting factor,” she explains.

The straps, which are tied around the handle of the dumbbells and are often used in barbell training, allow a user to lift heavier with less tension and strain on their grip.

“This lets me focus more on the mind-to-muscle connection during exercise,” continues Green.

“I wouldn’t recommend straps for beginners, however, because their focus should be on form rather than lifting heavy, and building up your natural grip strength before starting to rely on straps.”

Lastly, Green warned that this workout is likely to trigger delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) in your glutes and thighs. This is nothing to be worried about.

“When I get DOMS, I'll try and make sure I don’t train that area again until the sensation has subsided,” she says, adding that a warm bath with Epsom Salts or a massage usually speeds up the recovery process.

Mia Green's favorite Oner Active pieces

My daughters ran their first 2km junior parkrun recently and as they shot off like rockets and I lagged behind, I was reminded that my 47-year-old hips are not as agile as they used to be.

Searching Instagram after the run for some hip-friendly stretches, I came across the below Reel by yoga teacher and mobility coach Ruben De Monte. As an ex-professional ballet dancer, he’ll know a thing or two about how to keep your body strong and flexible.

Hip mobility is something I want to work on as I get older, particularly as I run seated exercise classes for seniors and have seen firsthand how weak hips have led to falls and injuries for many of them. Just last week, one of my lovely customers lost her balance while pulling a sweater over her head and broke her shoulder blade.

So I’ve made it my mission to improve my mobility this year, and De Monte’s four hip stretches, with beginner and advanced options, are a good place to start.

How to do De Monte’s hip stretches

De Monte demonstrates the beginner-friendly hip stretches while yoga teacher Mara Cimatoribus does the advanced ones. He recommends doing each move for one minute, but if that feels too challenging, then start with 30 seconds and build up to a minute as you get stronger.

If you have them, you can use two yoga blocks to support you during the moves.

How often should we do hip mobility training?

“For most people, performing hip mobility exercises two to three times per week is sufficient to maintain or improve mobility,” says Stuart Wardle, chartered physiotherapist and owner of the Recover Physiotherapy clinic in Norfolk, England.

“This can be incorporated into a warm-up or cool-down routine or done as part of a dedicated stretching session. If you have a sedentary lifestyle or spend long hours sitting at a desk, you may benefit from doing hip mobility exercises more frequently, such as on a daily basis.

“This helps counteract the stiffness and tightness that can accumulate from sitting for extended periods. However, it's important to listen to your body. If you experience any discomfort or pain during hip mobility exercises, take a break and consult a physiotherapist for guidance.”

If you’re after a progressive daily routine, try this 28-day hip mobility plan.

Anyone who wants to run regularly without injury (especially knee injuries), or improve their performance, could benefit from stronger quads. It stands to reason that squats will help you achieve this, but a physical therapist and certified running coach has taken to Instagram to say there are more effective exercises to use instead.

Richelle Weeks posted that unweighted squats, or even squats with a light dumbbell, aren’t challenging enough to help runners get stronger quads.

Instead, she recommends using these five moves, below, to increase quad strength, and improve running speed and performance.

How to do Weeks’ quad exercises for runners

I contacted Weeks to find out more and she says to aim to include one or two of these exercises in supportive strength workout two to three times a week, depending on how much you are running. “Higher mileage runners may struggle to fit in more than two,” she says.

What are the best exercises for runners?

“A heavy back or front squat can have great benefits for building overall strength,” says Weeks, “but you’d want to make sure you’re also including unilateral (single side) movements to target any muscle imbalances.”

“Running is a single-leg activity, so that means that we should be working our quads in single-leg positions like lunges, step-ups and unilateral squats,” says Weeks.

As well as the workout above, Weeks says adding single-leg calf raises, single-leg RDLs, side plank toe taps, weighted lunges and side-to-side jump squats to your fitness routine can improve running performance. She’s posted a 20-minute workout with these moves on Instagram.

Bodybuilders are renowned for using hours-long gym workouts to sculpt their physiques, yet Arnold Schwarzenegger knows the value of a short, sharp session.

When time and equipment were scarce, the Austrian Oak would turn to a muscle-building technique called mechanical drop sets to build strength with maximum efficiency—and he’s just released a workout drawing on this principle.

“Mechanical drop sets allow you to hit failure without changing weights—just by tweaking the movement,” writes Arnie’s team in the latest edition of Arnold’s Pump Club—a daily newsletter from the 78-year-old former Mr Olympia.

With a classic drop set, you typically need lots of equipment close to hand.

For example, you might do a set of biceps curls with a moderately heavy pair of dumbbells. Once you hit failure, you’d immediately swap in a lighter pair of weights for a second set of reps to failure, then drop the weight once more.

As a result you would have kept the muscles under sustained tension for longer than if you had one pair of dumbbells, which should help your biceps grow bigger and stronger.

With a mechanical drop set, instead of changing the load, you regress the exercise selection, performing sets of easier variations, so you can keep working when you hit failure.

“This keeps intensity high and prioritizes efficiency so you can work hard, feel accomplished, and get on with your day,” writes Arnie’s team, while providing a mechanical drop-set workout you can get your teeth stuck into today.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s mechanical drop-set workout

Arnold’s mechanical drop-set workout is made up of three blocks, starting with the lower-body, then upper, then back to lower.

Each block involves three back-to-back variations of an exercise targeting a specific movement pattern, moving from hardest to easiest.

“Rest as little as possible (or not at all) between exercises in a set,” notes Arnie's team.

Rest two to three minutes after each drop set, repeating it once or twice more before moving onto the next block. Don’t skimp on the rest. To perform to your full potential, you’ll need it.

Because the workout is quite push-heavy, I’ve added an optional upper-body pulling-focused block to round off the session and keep your body evenly balanced.

Hopefully, Arnie would approve.

Drop set 1: Lower body (2-3 rounds)

• Dumbbell front foot elevated lunge (on a weight plate or low step) x 6 each side
• Dumbbell reverse lunge x 8 each side
• Dumbbell goblet squat x 10

Drop set 2: Upper-body push (2-3 rounds)

• Decline push-up x 10-20
• Regular push-up x 10
• Incline push-up (hands on bench) x as many reps as possible

If decline push-ups are too advanced—as they are for most people—instead pick three variations of push-ups, or modified push-ups, that you can perform with good form. For example, you could start with eccentric push-ups, then move on to push-ups on knees, then finish with incline push-ups.

Drop set 3: Glutes and core (2-3 rounds)

• Dumbbell single-leg hip thrust x 8 each side
• Single-leg hip thrust x 10 each side
• Hip thrust x 12

Rest 2-3 minutes after each drop set, repeating it once or twice more, then rest 60-90 seconds before moving onto the next block.

Drop set 4: Upper-body pull (2-3 rounds)

• Renegade row x 8 each side
• Bent-over row x 10
• Single-arm row x 12 each side

Given the volume of work involved, you can expect some mild to moderate delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) to set in over the next 48 hours.

Here's one of the best things you can do post-session to speed up recovery.

My youngest daughter is a real vegetable dodger so I’m always looking for tasty veggie recipes that she’ll like so I can finally convince her to eat some.

Like me, she loves anything crispy and salty so when I saw this Parmesan zucchini rings recipe on Instagram by Stella Drivas, I had to try it out.

Known on social platforms as Hungry Happens, Drivas is a recipe developer whose website shares her simple Greek-inspired recipes.

And these crispy Parmesan zucchini rings from her forthcoming cookbook that I found on her Instagram page did not disappoint. Here’s why I’m making them on repeat.

It’s a great way to use up surplus zucchini

Zucchinis in the fridge can often get forgotten about and they can be a little bland if you don’t marinade them for hours. But with this fast and easy recipe, you just need a little oil, seasoning and some fresh grated parmesan, and you are ready to bake or air fry!

I used BBQ seasoning and some minced garlic alongside the cheese and olive oil. I don’t own an apple corer so I just cut the core out of the sliced zucchini, which didn’t take long.

The zucchini rings took about 15 minutes to crisp up to perfection, and they were so good I must admit I ate the whole plate!

There’s no food waste as you use the whole zucchini

You make a dip out of the middle bits of the zucchini you removed with the apple corer (or knife in my case) and this was super delicious.

I sauteed it for 3-5 minutes with more fresh minced garlic and the BBQ seasoning. Then I blended it in a food processor with some grated Parmesan and a little olive oil.

It’s a low-calorie and low-carb crisp alternative

If, like me, you are prone to grabbing a bag of chips when you’re hungry, these crispy rings will satisfy that craving, and at 83 calories and 7g of carbs per serving, they’re a low-calorie and low-carb alternative.

You could even make them ahead of time as they would taste just as good cold.

It’s family-friendly (if you can resist eating them all yourself)

Both my daughters loved this healthy snack and they asked me to make them again so they can have them in their school lunch boxes.

They’d make a great addition to a picnic, or even as a healthy alternative to chips when you’re having a party or family gathering.

You can experiment with different seasonings so they don’t get too samey, and even make them a bit spicy if you like.

Preorder the Hungry Happens cookbook

If you often do hip stretches, but still deal with stiffness in your hips when running, you might not be dealing with tightness, but weakness in the hips.

According to physical therapist Sanjit Kooner, this is a common issue. “Many runners focus on stretching their hip flexors to reduce stiffness, but often overlook strengthening them through their full range of motion,” he tells Fit&Well.

“Weakness at the end range can contribute to tightness, reduced stride efficiency, and even discomfort over time,” Kooner explains.

He has found a move that helps to combat this problem. “This exercise challenges the hip flexors while they’re fully lengthened, building both strength and mobility at once,” he says.

How to do Sanjit Kooner’s hip flexor drill for runners

You’ll need a bench for this move, or another stable surface you can sit and lean back on. You’ll also need something to anchor one foot down with. Kooner performs the move holding a dumbbell on his chest in the Reel, but he suggests that beginners start without a weight.

Whether you use a weight or not, moving with control is essential. “Move slowly through the range,” says Kooner. “Avoid using momentum or swinging the leg.”

The core also plays a big role here. “Keep your core engaged to prevent your lower back from arching,” he says.

Complete 8 to 12 reps per side, holding briefly at the bottom of the movement before raising slowly again. Complete two to three sets.

Aim to do this two to three times per week for noticeable improvement in strength and mobility.

I’m often surprised by just how much tension I hold in my hips. Whenever I stretch or do yoga, I often experience discomfort around my hips during lower-body movements, and I notice they can be tight when squatting.

It makes sense that I lack mobility in my hips. I work at a desk, which means I spend at least seven or eight hours a day sitting. This naturally restricts mobility in my hips and weakens my hip flexors.

For this reason, I’m always looking for ways to give a bit of extra TLC to my hips, so I was excited to see that Adriene Mishler—better known online as Yoga With Adriene—recently shared a new yoga practice dedicated to opening up the hips.

It takes less than 15 minutes, which means it’s a convenient way to give your hips a quick break from sitting during the day.

Watch Yoga With Adriene’s Open Your Hips practice

As is always the case with Mishler, it’s a follow-along video.

All you need is a yoga mat, although a blanket or towel will suffice if you don't have one. I used an extra blanket to pad my knees during some of the poses to make the practice more comfortable.

My experience trying Yoga With Adrine’s latest routine

After a long morning at my desk and a big lunch, I was more than ready to try Mishler’s routine. This is a very gentle practice, with simple stretches that are accessible if you don’t have any existing issues, and it moves at a slow pace.

All of the moves provide a deep stretch through different parts of the hips, including the hip flexors, located at the front of the hip; the abductors, which run down the sides of the hips along the upper thigh; and the adductors, in the inner thigh.

The routine involved a combination of dynamic stretching—which involves moving in and out of a stretch—and passive stretching, which involves holding a position and letting gravity deepen the stretch.

This combination ensured a deep stretch through the hips, and I felt my muscles relax as the routine went on.

Afterward, I felt less stressed and more energised. I always find gentle movement like this is helpful after lunch to avoid an afternoon slump.

My hips also felt more open and sitting at my desk for the afternoon was a lot more comfortable. My lower back also felt more relaxed, because mobilizing the hips can help to support the lower-back muscles, another reason why this type of movement is so good for people who spend a lot of time sitting.

What do you get when you combine prolonged periods of sitting, weak core muscles and underpowered glutes?

Shortened and tightened hip flexors, a back ache-inducing anterior pelvic tilt, limited range of motion and considerable difficulty dropping into a squat.

This is my world.

Scouring the internet for a remedy, I spotted a catchy Instagram post from mobility coach Charlotte Hazelwood of Elevate with Charlotte fame, in which she shared a daily routine that helped her unlock tight hips in three minutes flat.

Sprinkling the moves: 90/90 heel taps, frog internal lift offs and seated good mornings throughout the day helped restore her hips to their “buttery” former selves.

Watch how to do Charlotte Hazelwood’s three stretches

These are great stretches. The only problem was that I found the exercises too advanced.

So I asked Aaron McCulloch, director of YOUR Personal Training, a provider of personal trainers in the UK, for entry-level alternatives, to help me build mobility safely and effectively, without putting my hips under too much stress, too soon.

I decided to try these alternative moves out instead, dedicating three minutes a day for a week.

McCulloch’s beginner modifications

1. Swap 90/90 heel taps for supported 90/90 holds

“The original heel taps demonstrated by Hazelwood are a great drill, but they can be tough if you’re not yet comfortable in deep hip positions,” says McCulloch. Instead, start by simply holding the 90/90 seated position with your hands behind you for support.

How to do it:

• Sit with your knees bent, feet on the floor shoulder-width apart and hands behind you for support.
• Drop both knees to one side, maintaining the 90˚ bend in both knees.
• Hold this 90/90 position for 30 to 60 seconds on each side.
• As your mobility improves, begin experimenting with gentle forward leans or controlled lifts of your back leg, as demonstrated by Hazelwood.

Why it works: “You’ll start to build external and internal hip rotation without having to lift or rotate your legs—ideal if you’re still developing control and stability,” says McCulloch.

2. Swap frog internal lift-offs for frog rock-backs

“Frog lift-offs are effective, but they demand a high level of control, which is something beginners are often still building,” says McCulloch. Instead, keep your feet grounded with your knees as wide as you can comfortably manage and slowly rock your hips forward and back.

How to do it:

• Start on your hands and knees, then move your knees out wide with feet turned out.
• Slowly rock your hips back toward your heels, then return to the start.
• Pause for a second or two at the back of each rock to feel the stretch.
• Breathe deeply and keep your movement smooth and steady.
• Perform 8-12 slow, controlled reps.

Why it works: “It helps you explore hip external rotation without the intensity of lift-offs. There’s no need to lift the knees—just move through a gentle range and build awareness,” says McCulloch.

3. Swap seated good mornings for seated forward leans

If your tight hips are equally matched by tight hamstrings these will feel nigh on impossible. Instead, McCulloch recommends reducing the range of the forward fold to a gentle lean.

How to do it:

• Sit on a chair or bench with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
• Position your knees wide apart but within a comfortable range.
• Keeping a straight back throughout, gently hinge forward at your hips as far as you can without rounding your spine.
• Hold for 20 to 30 seconds, repeat a total of three times.

Why it works: “Seated forward leans allow you to practice hip hinging and forward folding in a more accessible way, without placing too much strain on your lower back,” says McCulloch. “Just focus on leading the movement with your chest. Think chest forward, rather than head down.”

How I got on with the three moves

Following Hazelwood’s plan with McCulloch’s regressions, I spent three minutes a day stretching my hips for a week.

Because I found my hips especially tight first thing in the morning, I preferred to do them just before bed or between meetings if working from home (though there's nothing stopping you doing them in the office either, because they won’t make you break sweat).

After a couple of days, I certainly noticed my hips feeling worked—probably because I'd clearly been neglecting mobilizing them for my previous 37-plus years.

Initially, this left them feeling a little tender, just like a muscle group that’s subjected to lots of sets and reps, but that eased off toward the end of the week.

I certainly plan to keep using these three moves to keep the joints open, but mobile hips are only part of the equation, and I need to ensure I pair this with a strong core and active glutes.

And, as with anything, repetition is the secret ingredient. “When it comes to mobility, consistency beats intensity,” says McCulloch.

“You don’t need to force range, just show up regularly, move with intention and give your body time to adapt. Stick with it, and both your hips—and your squat—will thank you.”

I’ll be honest, I often prioritize my core and lower body in my training—I just prefer those types of workouts.

But exercising the upper body is just as important, especially because strong arms and shoulders can improve posture and make daily activities feel easier. A strong upper body can also improve your running speed.

You don’t have to abandon your favorite kettlebell leg workout, either, just add this quick nine-minute workout on the end. It’s from certified personal trainer Angie Haviland-Wyer, who runs the HomeFit program for busy women, and it’s a fun and effective way to build upper-body strength.

“Quick workouts like these can be easier to stick to when you’re short on time,” Haviland-Wyer tells Fit&Well. “We’re all busy and in my opinion it doesn’t matter how long you train, just be consistent, progressively overload, and explore different training styles and exercises to see results.”

How to do the workout

The moves

• Biceps curl
• Triceps extension
• Clean and press
• Front raise
• Alternating lateral raise

Complete three rounds, resting for 30 seconds between rounds. Perform each exercise for 20 seconds in the first round, 30 seconds in the second round and 40 seconds in the final round.

The clean and press is the most difficult exercise here, so it’s worth spending some time online making sure you’re confident with the movement if you haven’t come across it before.

It’s worth investing the time to master it. “In my opinion, the clean and press gives more bang for your buck than a simple shoulder press and should mean that you can lift a little heavier than a standard press,” says Haviland-Wyer.

Here’s another look at how to do it.

You’ll see that Haviland-Wyer switches to using one dumbbell held in both hands for the front raise. That’s because it trains the shoulders, which typically can’t handle as much weight as other upper-body muscles.

It’s fine to use two dumbbells if you need that extra challenge, but Haviland-Wyer points out that you shouldn’t be swinging your hips to help lift the dumbbells. That’s a sure sign you should lift a lighter weight.

You’ll also notice that Haviland-Wyer performs the lateral raise one arm at a time. Why? “I always do lateral raises with alternate arms because I carry a lot of stress and tension through my shoulders and traps (the muscles in the upper back and neck).

“Doing the exercise one arm at a time allows me to focus on proper technique, without putting unnecessary pressure on the weaker parts of my body.”

If you regularly experience pain or recurring injuries in the hips or knees, even though you stretch and do strength training, you may feel like throwing in the towel.

But according to physical therapist Sanjit Kooner, there’s one set of muscles people with injuries in these areas of the body often neglect. They’re known as the hip stabilizers, which play an important role in proper hip movement and stability. If these muscles aren’t functioning well, it can have a trickle-down effect on your knees.

Kooner has shared his favourite exercise for strengthening these muscles to help prevent hip and knee injuries.

“This is a deceptively simple yet highly effective glute and hip stabilizer drill,” he tells Fit&Well.

“I first learned this drill from a sport physiotherapy specialist, and I was skeptical until I felt how effectively it targeted the stabilizers we often miss in traditional training.”

How to do the hip and knee stability drill

While Kooner demonstrates the move with a foam roller, a Pilates ball or even a small sports ball is preferable. “I recommend doing it with a small ball against the wall rather than a foam roller for better control and feedback,” says Kooner.

Although you may pay more attention to your leg pressing against the foam roller or ball because it’s an unfamiliar position, it’s your standing leg that will be doing most of the work.

Unlike with traditional single-leg squats, you don’t necessarily need a full range of motion here. “You don’t need to squat deep to get the benefits,” says Kooner. “In fact, partial range squats are often more relevant and functional in athletic settings. The goal is to maintain control, tension and alignment rather than chase depth.”

Kooner recommends completing two sets of 10 to 12 reps on each leg, aiming to do this two to three times a week.

The benefits of this drill

“You’ll feel a deep burn through the gluteus medius and other hip stabilizers, which are crucial for balance, injury prevention and efficient movement in sport,” says Kooner.

This move will also help you improve balance and coordination, so you can move well in everyday life.

The fact that we lift, rather than how or what we lift, becomes increasingly important as we age. That’s the message in the latest issue of Arnold's Pump Club, a newsletter series from none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Those thoughts were accompanied by a versatile full-body workout which I’ve detailed below, along with guidance on how to extrapolate the routine into a four-week strength-building plan.

But first, back to Arnie.

His team highlighted a new meta-analysis of 102 randomized trials on people aged between 63 and 87, which assessed the effects of five different training modalities on muscle strength.

The research scrutinized the effectiveness of bodyweight, resistance bands, resistance machines, free weights and mixed methods, measured against a control group that didn’t exercise.

Machine-based training elicited the greatest effects, followed by free weights, bands, mixed and then bodyweight training.

However, authors Tim Wiedenmann and Co. were keen to stress that all five modalities “can have large positive effects on strength development in older adults”.

Adding that “individual preference, enjoyability and practicability” were more important factors at play.

In other words: “The best approach is the one you’ll stick with,” noted Pump Club editors Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell.

“All forms of resistance training improve strength—what matters most is effort, not equipment.”

Use this versatile workout to build all-over strength at any age

To support this conclusion, Schwarzenegger's team also shared a comprehensive full-body workout that anyone can try no matter the equipment you have at your disposal.

The routine is split into three sections:

1. Lower body
2. Upper body
3. Core and carry

Each section is made up of two moves to be performed back to back—known as a superset. The aim is to perform exercise A, rest 60 seconds, perform exercise B, rest 60 seconds, then back to A, and so on.

There are also four variations for each exercise:

1. Bodyweight
2. Bands
3. Dumbbells
4. Barbell

Choose your weapon, then perform three sets of each pair of exercises for 8-10 reps, resting for two minutes before progressing onto the next section.

"You should finish each superset knowing you couldn’t do more than one or two extra reps with good form," adds Bornstein and Ketchell, known as two RiR (reps in reserve). If you need to make the superset more challenging to achieve this, then reduce the rest between sets.

Here are the moves for each superset, with either a link to a demonstration on YouTube, or an exercise guide on Fit&Well or our former sister site Coach.

Superset 1: Lower-body strength

1A Squat variation

Sets: 3 Reps: 8-10

• Bodyweight: Tempo air squat (take 3sec to lower)
• Bands: Banded squat
• Dumbbells: Goblet squat
• Barbell: Back squat

1B Hip hinge variation

Sets: 3 Reps: 8-10

• Bodyweight: Glute bridge or single-leg hip thrust
• Bands: Banded Romanian deadlift
• Dumbbells: Dumbbell Romanian deadlift
• Barbell: Barbell deadlift

Superset 2: Upper-body push and pull

2A Push variation

Sets: 3 Reps: 8-10

• Bodyweight: Push-up (elevated to make it easier, or deficit to make it harder)
• Bands: Banded chest press
• Dumbbells: Dumbbell floor press or overhead press
• Barbell: Bench press or strict overhead press

2B. Pull variation

Sets: 3 Reps: 8-10

• Bodyweight: Inverted row or pull-up
• Bands: Banded row
• Dumbbells: Bent-over dumbbell row
• Barbell: Bent-over barbell row

Superset 3: Core and carry

3A Core movement

Sets: 3 Reps: 8-10

• Bodyweight: Dead bug
• Bands: Banded Pallof press
• Dumbbells: Weighted hollow body hold
• Barbell: Barbell rollout

3B Loaded carry/isometric hold

Sets: 3 Time: 30-40 sec

Bodyweight: Plank

Bands: Side plank with band row

Dumbbells: Farmer’s carry

Barbell: Front rack carry

How to expand this workout into a four-week strength-building training plan

Arnie's team presented this six-exercise routine as a standalone workout that you can use no matter what equipment you have available.

But it’s equally possible to extrapolate this routine into a four-week program if you have the equipment or access to a gym.

I’d suggest aiming to repeat this routine twice a week, allowing for adequate rest between each session.

• In week one, familiarize yourself with the workout pattern using just bodyweight.
• In week two, upgrade to bodyweight and bands if you have them on hand to slightly increase resistance.
• In week three, progress to dumbbells where appropriate.
• In week four, you can either fractionally increase the weight of the dumbbells you’re lifting or try the barbell variation if you’re familiar with using this equipment.

Given each exercise variation will target similar muscle groups, you can rotate the equipment you’re using throughout the plan.

The key is to ensure you’re challenging yourself and practicing good form.

As the study authors and Arnie’s team noted, finding a routine you can stick with is key to building strength at any age.

I prefer in-person yoga and workout classes, but there’s one online instructor whose routines I always search for when I want to move my body at home and that’s Adriene Mishler, aka Yoga With Adriene.

She’s an extremely popular yoga instructor and with over 13 million subscribers she runs one of the best yoga YouTube channels. I like her because her routines are simple, often short and always beneficial.

Mishler recently shared a new routine that’s just 10 minutes long. She describes it as a “mental health break” to ground the body and the mind.

I tried during my lunch break to see if I could reduce my stress levels in just 10 minutes.

Watch Yoga With Adriene’s “Mental Health Break”

You don't need any equipment to do this routine, although a lot of it is done lying down or on your hands and knees, so you may want to roll out your yoga mat or a blanket to make your experience more comfortable.

And, as is always the case with Mishler's videos, it’s a follow-along practice, so just press play when you’re ready.

My experience trying Yoga With Adriene’s “Mental Health Break” routine

I struggle to switch off during the working day. Even when I leave my desk to go for a walk or for a quick gym session at lunch, I find that I’m still thinking about my to-do list, so I expected my mind to wander while doing this routine.

To my surprise, I found that I was able to relax. The first five minutes of the routine is spent lying down and following a guided meditation.

Mishler talks you through some breathwork, but she encourages you not to try and control or disrupt your breath, but just focus on lengthening it.

I enjoyed this, because I often find specific breathing techniques too difficult, particularly when they involve holding my breath.

By simply focusing on making the breath longer and listening to Mishler's guided meditation, my mind stayed in the moment.

The second half of the practice involved gentle stretching, which my body needed after sitting at my desk all morning.

I felt my muscles and joints actively release as I moved in and out of cat-cow, and the gentle shoulder and neck stretches were especially satisfying after hunching over my laptop.

It was a worthwhile use of my time and I felt much better going back to my desk, both in my body and mind.

I’ll return to this routine when I’m feeling overwhelmed. It’s only 10 minutes, but it made a lot of difference to my mood.

Whether you’re spending time hunched over your desk or holding a little one in your arms, this five-movement Pilates routine will help address the effects of shoulder slouching and improve your posture.

Created by Vanessa Michielon, new mum, Pilates teacher and the founder of the Transformative Movement Method, the workout focuses on back extension movements.

I asked Michielon to explain why she recommends each exercise and more detail on how to do each exercise correctly.

How to do this Pilates shoulder sequence

All you need to get started is a yoga mat and enough space for movement. Adding arm weights is optional.

For all of the exercises, Vanessa emphasises the importance of maintaining the correct posture throughout.

“Gently hug your abdominals instead of pushing the belly towards the floor,” says Michielon.

“Keep your pubic bone pressing into the mat and maintain length in the spine. Keep your eyes towards the front of the mat or to the floor to maintain a neutral neck.”

1. Chest and arm lift

Purpose: To activate your mid and upper-back muscles, open your chest and counteract shoulder slouching.

How to do it:

• Lie on your front with your arms by your sides, palms facing up.
• Gently engage your abdominals, press your pubic bone into the mat and lift your forehead just off the mat.
• Inhale to prepare, then as you exhale lift your chest and then your arms, focusing on lengthening through the crown of your head.
• Hold for 3-5 seconds, then inhale as you lower with control.
• Perform 10 lifts in total.

2. Arm circles

Purpose: To mobilise your shoulder joints while maintaining back extension and to build endurance in your postural muscles.

How to do it:

• Lie on your front with your arms by your sides, palms facing up.
• Gently engage your abdominals, press your pubic bone into the mat and lift your forehead just off the mat.
• Inhale to prepare, then as you exhale lift your chest and then your arms, focusing on lengthening through the crown of your head.
• Move your arms to draw small circles with your hands.
• Perform 5-10 circles, then repeat in the other direction.
• Keep your shoulders away from your ears, your abdominals lifted and maintain length through your spine throughout

3. Hand tap

Purpose: To mobilise your shoulders and encourage scapular retraction to lengthen the neck.

How to do it:

• Lie on your front with your arms by your sides, palms facing up.
• Gently engage your abdominals, press your pubic bone into the mat and lift your forehead just off the mat.
• Inhale to prepare, then as you exhale lift your chest and then your arms, focusing on lengthening through the crown of your head.
• Bend your elbows to bring your fingertips to touch above your lower back, or as close as possible.
• Extend your arms, but keep your chest and arms lifted.
• Repeat the arm movement 6-8 times.

4. Single-arm extension from cactus arms

Purpose: To improve back-body awareness and unilateral control.

How to do it:

• Lie on your front with your elbows bent to 90° and your upper arms level with shoulders, palms facing down.
• Gently engage your abdominals, press your pubic bone into the mat and lift your forehead just off the mat.
• Inhale to prepare, then as you exhale lift your chest and then your arms, focusing on lengthening through the crown of your head.
• Without shifting your torso, extend one arm at a time behind you towards your hip.
• Return to the start, then repeat on the other side.
• Perform 5 reps on each side, alternating sides with each rep.

5. Elbow pull

Purpose: To deepen the activation of the latissimus dorsi, release neck tension and build strength in your posterior chain (the muscles that run along the back of your body).

How to do it:

• Lie on your front with your elbows bent to 90° and your upper arms level with shoulders, palms facing down.
• Gently engage your abdominals, press your pubic bone into the mat and lift your forehead just off the mat.
• Inhale to prepare, then as you exhale lift your chest and then your arms, focusing on lengthening through the crown of your head.
• Inhale to prepare, then as you exhale move your elbows toward your waist, drawing your shoulder blades toward your spine.
• Focus on lengthening the neck rather than compressing the back and keep the movement smooth and controlled.
• Inhale as you move your arms forward.
• Repeat the arm movement 8–10 times.

One thing I realised when I came back to running after a break is that the exercise you do alongside it is almost as important as the running itself.

Strength training can really level up your performance if you’re trying to run faster because stronger muscles mean you can generate more force with every stride.

Plus, when you are fitter, you use less energy so you can maintain your speed for longer.

When I saw this Instagram video, designed to help you increase your running speed I immediately saved it to give it a try.

Created by running coach and professional ultra runner Yana Strese, it involves five resistance band exercises that Strese says helped her run stronger, faster and injury-free. Here’s the video.

How these exercises can improve running speed

To find out how these exercises can help, I turned to certified personal trainer Joey Jones from Way-Up.

“All of Strese’ exercises are designed to improve stride mechanics and neuro-muscular control,” says Jones. “If you are trying to improve your times, training with these moves is a great place to start.”

He pinpoints two exercises in Strese’s video—the ankle pump and single-leg knee drive—that are particularly good for improving running speed.

“The ankle pump targets the tibialis anterior muscle and improves ankle dorsiflexion [lifting your toes toward your shin] control.

“The reason for including this exercise is to improve stride turnover and help toe clearance [the distance between your toes and the floor when running].

“Basically you’re improving your ankle mechanics to lift and regain contact with the ground as fast as possible.

“The single-leg knee drive focuses on the hip flexors. Strong hip flexors have been directly linked to faster sprinting speeds. For example, elite sprinters generate two to three times their force to their bodyweight through their hip flexors.”

As you get older, it's normal to feel less steady on your feet or struggle with balance, but you don’t just have to grin and bear it.

Maintaining your strength and balance is something that can be easily improved at home with consistent practice.

Exercise scientist and strength and conditioning coach Pete Williams has shared an exercise that will improve your strength and balance to reduce your risk of falls.

Williams calls it the step and 90 rotation, and it doesn't require any equipment.

How to do a step and 90 rotation

• Twist your torso to the right as you raise your right knee to hip height, bending it to 90°.
• Pause and maintain your balance.
• Step your right foot forward, then repeat on the other side.
• Continue, alternating sides with each rep to walk forward for two minutes.

The benefits of the step and 90° rotation

This move helps you feel more stable and reduce your risk of falls in a few ways.

“Firstly, driving the knee high creates an action that develops strength and power in the hip flexors, which are the main muscle group that allows you to pick your foot off the ground and avoid those bumps in the pavement,” Williams tells Fit&Well.

“On the other side you are working your lateral glute muscles which are important in keeping your hips tracking in the right position, which helps your balance and the biomechanics of your walking cycle,” says Williams.

If you try this move, you'll notice that it also tests your balance. Even Williams is wobbling slightly in the Reel.

“When we add rotation into the exercise it challenges our balance even more as we are asking our body to control another plane of movement,” says Williams.

“It also works the outer calf muscles that help to control the ankle, reducing the risk of falls.”

If you don’t feel stable while doing this exercise, try holding onto a wall when you lift your leg. Doing it between kitchen counters, as in the Williams’ demonstration, is also a good idea, so you have support within reach on both sides.

If you’re trying to build core strength and don’t really like doing crunches, because you find it hard to engage your core, then get your hands on a Pilates ring, sometimes known as the magic circle.

Placing a Pilates ring between your knees or ankles can help you to more effectively engage your abdominal muscles, including the obliques that run down the sides of your torso and the lower back.

For three ways to activate those hard-to-reach deep core muscles, take a look at these low-impact Pilates ring exercises posted on Instagram by Pilates Prescription app founder Rebecca Dadoun.

Then keep reading to discover why Dadoun thinks the Pilates ring is so good for building a stronger core.

How to do Dadoun’s low-impact Pilates ring exercises

Why a Pilates ring is good for core exercises

“The Pilates ring builds core strength by creating resistance and encouraging deep muscle activation,” Dadoun tells Fit&Well, “especially in the inner thighs, pelvic floor and abdominals.

“The ring increases the challenge in Pilates exercises by making your muscles work harder to maintain form and control.

“Using the ring between the knees or ankles recruits the inner thighs and pelvic floor, which are deeply connected to the lower abdominals.

“It improves mind-muscle connection because the ring responds instantly to pressure—you get real-time feedback, making it easier to feel your core activating and stay present in the movement.”

Dadoun also reassured me that low-impact workouts are no less worthy than high-impact ones.

“You can build real strength with controlled, resistance-based movements like Pilates,” says Dadoun. “You’ll also improve joint health, posture, balance and nervous system regulation without punishing your body. That means’ you’re more likely to stay consistent, which matters more than intensity over time.”

It’s normal for everyday life and tasks to feel more difficult as you get older. Simple things that you probably didn’t have to think about at one point, like getting up off the couch or carrying grocery bags, might now feel like a struggle.

But that doesn’t have to be the case—not if you have a strength training programme in place.

Strength training is an effective way to future-proof your body, and keep your joints and muscles healthy as you age, offsetting the natural effects of getting older.

Jennifer Martin is a personal trainer who recently shared a look at how she trains her parents, who are in their late 50s and 60s, to help them maintain their independence as they get older.

“These exercises are great for those who are looking to build muscle, improve balance and improve mobility,” Martin tells Fit&Well.

Martin designed this workout with everyday life in mind. “These exercises will help you get up off the floor with ease, push things above your head without shoulder pain, get up and down out of your chair, pick things up off the ground without lower-back pain, and feel more stable on your feet day to day,” says Martin.

How to do Jennifer Martin’s future-proofing workout

You’ll need a few pieces of equipment for this workout, including a balance ball, a long resistance band, an exercise ball, and a pair of dumbbells or kettlebells. You might also want to use a balance pad and exercise mat to provide cushioning for your knees.

If you don’t have all this equipment to hand, simply pick and choose which exercises from this routine you are able to do and add those to your usual workouts.

If you want to complete this routine as a standalone workout, Martin has shared the sets and reps she recommends for each move.

1. Kneel to stand

Sets: 2 Reps: 6 each side

“This exercise will help you get off the floor with more ease,” says Martin. It targets the quads, hamstrings, glutes and core.

2. Squat on balance ball

Sets: 3 Reps: 10-12

“This can be done on a balance ball or the ground,” says Martin, although she recommends investing in a balance ball if you’re able to. “The balance ball is great because it will help strengthen your core and improve your balance.”

“Holding onto a resistance band will allow you to get lower in your squat,” says Martin.

3. Hamstring curl

Sets: 3 Reps: 6-8

“This is one of the best exercises to help alleviate lower-back pain and increase hip flexibility,” says Martin.

4. Push press

Sets: 3 Reps: 10-12

“This exercise will allow you to feel more confident pressing things up over your head day to day,” says Martin. “A push and press is a powerful movement that will also help improve shoulder mobility.”

5. Standing march

Sets: 3 Reps: 20-24 each side

“This exercise helps build core strength and stability, and will also help improve balance and coordination, as well as improve flexibility in the hip flexors,” says Martin.

6. Split squat with twist

Sets: 2 Reps: 8-10 each side

“This move helps improve balance and proprioception [your sense of where your body is in space], which will help you feel more stable in everyday activities,” says Martin.

You can do this without weights at first.

7. Bent-over row

Sets: 3 Reps: 10-12

“Unilateral exercises [where you work one side of your body at a time] help improve muscle imbalances and improve core strength,” says Martin. “This unilateral row will help you more effectively throw, pull or push things in real life.”

In this version of the move, you rest one hand on an exercise ball while doing the row, which adds another benefit. “Pressing the opposite hand into the workout ball will help strengthen your pelvic floor,” says Martin.

8. Bird dog

Sets: 1 Reps: 12-16

“This is one of the best exercises to improve balance and mobility, and alleviate or prevent back pain,” says Martin.

There’s so much advice out there about how to train strength train, but when you’re a total beginner you don’t need fancy equipment or expensive gym memberships to see results.

All you really need is a pair of dumbbells, which you can use to target muscles across the entire body.

Jennifer Martin is a personal trainer and she says there’s a simple dumbbell routine she always recommends to beginners.

“These are exercises I incorporate into my strength workouts every single week,” she tells Fit&Well.

“These exercises are great because they will help you build muscle and feel stronger doing everyday activities,” says Martin.

We couldn’t agree more, and you’ll find many of the same exercises in our beginner workout plan.

How to do Jennifer Martin’s beginner strength workout

Ideally, you’ll have a few sets of dumbbells for this workout so you can use different weights for different exercises.

Martin recommends pairs of light (2-5lb), moderate (8-10lb) and heavy (10-15lb) dumbbells.

If you only have one set of weights, that’s OK too. Opt for a lighter set for the harder exercises and double up with two dumbbells on exercises that engage more muscle groups.

Martin suggests using your medium or heavy dumbbell for most of the exercises, apart from chest presses, where you might want to opt for lighter dumbbells. Use one medium or heavy dumbbell for the goblet squat and glute bridge.

Watch Martin’s Reel above to see the reps and sets for each move.

Shop dumbbells

How often to do this workout

This is a full-body workout, which Martin recommends for beginners, to ensure they’re consistently targeting a wide range of muscles. “Start with two to three total-body workouts per week,” says Martin.

“Make sure your last one to two reps are challenging,” says Martin. If they aren’t challenging, it’s probably time to increase the weight and Martin says that progressive overload—which involves increasing the weights you’re lifting over subsequent workouts—is how to make sure you get stronger.

Follow this advice and you’ll start to feel stronger in a matter of weeks.

I’ve been doing yoga regularly for over 10 years, and I swear by it to improve my flexibility and reduce muscle stiffness.

Even just one week without yoga leaves me with tight hips and shoulders, but I don't always have time to get to an in-person class. When that’s the case, I turn to my favourite online yoga instructor, Adriene Mishler, better known as Yoga With Adriene.

Mishler is hardly a hidden gem, with more than 13 million subscribers on YouTube. One major reason for this is that she’s a gifted teacher, providing clear instructions that ensure you’re in the correct position, even without adjustments from an instructor IRL.

She recently shared a 12-minute stretching routine for recovery days, so I decided to give it a go the day after a tough gym session to see if it could help soothe my tired muscles.

How to do Yoga With Adriene’s 12-minute recovery routine

You don't need any equipment to do this routine, although you will want to roll out your yoga mat if you have one, because a lot of the poses are done on your knees. Take a look at our guide to the best yoga mats if it’s something you want to invest in.

As is the case with all of Mishler’s videos, she demonstrates this routine in real-time, so click play and follow along.

My experience trying Yoga With Adriene’s 12-minute recovery routine

This routine starts slow with some head rolls. I sometimes underestimate the effectiveness of simple moves like this, but they felt so satisfying for my stiff upper body and relieved tension in my shoulders.

We then went into a range of passive stretches, which means holding moves for some time rather than moving in and out of them.

This included butterfly pose (which my hips loved), low lunges and a forward fold, which stretched my hamstrings and also encouraged a release in the upper back.

Although we were holding poses, this wasn't a yin practice which can mean holding poses for around five minutes. We flowed through movements, staying in poses for less than 30 seconds.

This meant it provided a good full-body stretch, which I was impressed by given it took less than 15 minutes.

I felt a lot of the stretches in my hips and back, which was ideal given I work at a desk and deal with tightness in both of those areas.

But muscles across my body felt more relaxed after completing this flow, so I’ll return to it when I’m in need of some quick relief.

I also think it would work well as a cool-down after working out, because the passive stretches are ideal for relaxing the body after exercise. It’s also an opportune time to work on your flexibility, because the muscles are already warm for movement.

If you suffer with tight, sore hips, you may have tried a few hip stretches but found they didn’t provide much relief.

Although hip stretches can help to mobilise your joints and muscles, it’s often just one part of a permanent solution.

Yoga instructor Mara Cimatoribus recently shared a Reel recommending five approaches to effectively deal with tight hips, particularly if it’s also leading to lower-back pain.

Five ways to reduce hip stiffness

I wanted to know more, so I spoke with Cimatoribus about each approach in the Reel.

1. Move your hips in circles

“Most of us live in straight lines—we sit, walk, and stand without much variation,” Cimatoribus tells Fit&Well. “But our hips thrive on circles, shifts, and rhythm.”

“Circular movements like hip CARs (controlled articular rotations) encourage the hips to explore their full range. This helps lubricate the joint, improve neuromuscular control and build strength.”

2. Strengthen what’s weak

Often, hip pain or stiffness is caused by weakness in a muscle around the hip. That’s why it's always worth getting any pain or discomfort checked out by a health professional who can help identify what might be the root cause of the issue.

However, Cimatoribus says hip tightness is frequently caused by issues with the glutes and hip stabilizers. “Tightness is often a protective response to instability,” says Cimatoribus. “Weak glutes and underactive stabilisers can cause the body to lock down the hips.

“Strengthening the glutes, outer hips and core muscles creates support and space for the hips to move more freely.”

One of the moves she recommends for strengthening the glutes and hips is clamshells. Good form is crucial in this movement and Cimatoribus says it’s important not to let your hips roll back. “Use a resistance band for added activation and focus on control over speed,” says Cimatoribus.

3. Incorporate active stretches

Perhaps you’ve tried holding a stretch for 30 seconds, but have not felt the benefits. In this case, you might want to try active stretching, which involves actively pushing into the movement (often using a prop or wall to support you). Cimatoribus describes this style as stretching as “far more functional”.

“For example, you can press your foot into your hand in a quad stretch, which strengthens and lengthens the hips at the same time, leading to more lasting mobility,” says Cimatoribus.

4. Check your sitting habits

“Postural habits have a huge impact on hip health,” says Cimatoribus. “Prolonged sitting shortens the hip flexors, and weakens the glutes and core.”

Changing how you sit during the day could help and Cimatoribus also suggests taking regular breaks from your desks to put your hips in new positions, such as the 90/90 stretch.

Cimatoribus' advice if you try this stretch is to “sit tall and avoid collapsing into one hip while gently leaning forward over the shin.”

5. Make it fun

Finally, it’s important to make sure moving your body doesn't feel like a chore. “Incorporating movement that feels enjoyable—like dancing, flowing yoga or intuitive swaying—releases tension, improves circulation and invites natural mobility,” says Cimatoribus.

“It also helps shift your mindset from fixing tightness to simply moving with joy and curiosity, which is where real progress happens.”

See if you can incorporate hip mobility into your daily routine to add some feel-good movement into dull moments like brushing your teeth or making a cup of coffee. That can be a more effective way of moving more than trying to fit a stretching routine into your to-do list.

Keeping your lower body strong and capable has many benefits, particularly for maintaining your mobility and independence into old age. Many of us also like having a muscular, toned lower body for the way it looks.

The good news is that whatever motivates you, you get both benefits, and this workout will improve strength and build lean muscle in your legs, all in just 20 minutes.

Personal trainer Rachael Sacerdoti designed this workout and uses it herself to tone her lower body. Sacerdoti encourages those using her program to aim for three, 20-minute strength training sessions like this one each week.

I checked in with Sacerdoti to find out more about the workout and get her form tips.

How to do the workout

You need dumbbells and a small looped resistance band to do the workout. You’ll need heavier weights for the squat, lunge, deadlift and bridge, and a lighter pair for the lying hamstring exercise.

If you don’t own this equipment already, Amazon Basic dumbbells are well-made and affordable, and Theraband’s glute bands are reliable and more comfortable than bands made exclusively from latex.

Exercise guides

1. Sumo squat

Sets: 3 Reps: 12 Rest: 30sec

Why: “This exercise targets the inner thighs, glutes and quads, offering a compound movement that builds foundational lower-body strength and stability,” says Sacerdoti.

Form tips: Keep your chest up and don’t let your knees cave in—keep them over your toes.

2. Curtsy lunge

Sets: 3 Reps: 10 each side Rest: 30sec

Why: This exercise engages the glutes, quads, and inner and outer thighs while challenging balance and coordination. “This lunge variation adds a lateral component that helps sculpt the gluteus medius and improve hip stability,” says Sacerdoti.

Form tips: Engage your core before you step back to ensure you’re moving with control.

3. Lying in-and-out hamstring

Sets: 3 Reps: 12 Rest: 30sec

Why: “This exercise is good as it isolates the hamstrings and promotes controlled muscle activation through a full range of motion, vital for lower leg power,” says Sacerdoti.

4. B-stance Romanian deadlift (RDL)

Sets: 3 Reps: 10 each side Rest: 30sec

Why: “This is a unilateral exercise that targets the hamstrings, glutes and lower back, helping to correct muscle imbalances and ensuring stability,” says Sacerdoti.

Form tips: Hinge at the hips and avoid rounding your back.

5. Glute bridge

Sets: 3 Reps: 12 Rest: 30sec

Why: “This exercise activates the glutes, hamstrings and lower back, supporting hip extension and overall core stability. It is key for developing strong, functional glutes, which contribute to lower-body power and posture.”

Form tips: Press through your heels as you lift your glutes, and squeeze your glutes at the top of the movement.

6. Banded side-step squat

Sets: 3 Reps: 12 Rest: 30sec

Why: This exercise is great for engaging the glutes, abductors and adductors by adding side-to-side movement, which is often neglected in standard leg routines.

Do you have some tennis balls lying around your home? Dig them out and you can use them to mobilize your upper back, strengthen these hard-to-train muscles and correct poor posture with this novel routine from Viktor Makarin, a creator who specializes in treating back pain.

The sequence involves lying face down and using the balls as reference points to manipulate the upper back and shoulder girdle, while activating all the muscles around the shoulder blades and spine that are often neglected or undertrained due to a sedentary lifestyle.

Its simplicity caught my eye initially. No heavy dumbbells required. No fiddly resistance bands.

Instead, the four-move routine draws on some basic Pilates postures and principles—such as light weights and high repetitions—to build a stronger, more resilient body.

Having used this routine for a week, I can vouch for its ability to wake up dormant muscles, address imbalances, and groove mobility around the shoulders and upper back that could have long-lasting benefits, whether working from home or working out in the gym.

Strengthen your back at home with this tennis ball routine

Makarin’s video is slightly sped up, so don’t try to match his pace.

Concentrate on the muscles and joints each exercise targets, and if restricted mobility limits your ability to complete one of the moves, move on to the next until you develop a better range of motion.

I suggest treating the four moves as a circuit, spending 20-30 seconds on each exercise, completing up to three rounds.

1. Behind-the-back ball pass

• Lie on your front with your forehead supported by a folded towel and your arms extended to the sides, holding a tennis ball in your right hand.
• Retract your shoulder blades to activate the upper-back muscles, then slowly move both arms clockwise to bring the ball in your hand toward your mid back, while arcing the other hand overhead.
• Bend both elbows to bring your hands as close as you can manage to each other in order to pass the ball from one hand to the other.
• Straighten your arms and move them counterclockwise to repeat the ball passing action in the other direction.

2. Ball release scapula arc

• Lie on your front with your forehead supported by a folded towel and your arms extended to the sides, holding tennis balls.
• Retract your shoulder blades and lift your arms off the floor, then move both arms 45° clockwise.
• Lower your arms to place the balls on the floor, release them, then lift your arms using your back muscles.
• Lower your arms again, pick up the balls and return to the start.
• Repeat the movement in the counterclockwise direction.
• As Makarin has annotated in his video, imagine there is a straight line running from one hand to the other. Maintain this straight line as you move your arms.

3. 90° ball bounce

This only requires a small action to target the stabilizing muscles in the upper back, but after 20-30 seconds, you'll certainly feel them working hard.

• Lie face down with your upper arms out to the side and your elbows bent at 90˚ while holding tennis balls.
• Retract your shoulder blades to activate your upper-back muscles and lift your arms.
• Bounce the tennis balls on the floor.

4. Dart shoulder 360s

This one’s more challenging, but it’ll target the erector spinae, lats and traps in one fell swoop so it’s worth persevering with.

• Lie face down, holding a tennis ball in one hand with arms extended in front of you.
• Pull your shoulder blades back and use your lower-back muscles to lift your chest off the floor while also lifting your feet.
• Maintaining this dart-like posture, sweep your arms back so your hands meet at the base of your spine.
• Pass the tennis ball from one hand to the other, then sweep your hands back to the start.
• Reverse the motion to pass the ball in the other direction and repeat.

Core strength is top on the list of things my personal training clients want to work on, but they don’t like the idea of doing crunches to achieve this.

The good news is that the core is responsible for so much more than bending your spine forward—the movement involved in crunches. For instance, your core muscles help you rotate—an essential daily movement.

“We live our life in rotational motions, so rotational exercises helps keep our bodies resilient and can prevent injuries,” says physical therapist and personal trainer Christynne Helfrich from Hinge Health.

I've selected some of my favorite rotational exercises before, but I recently came across this six-move standing abs workout from trainer Danica Osborn that also includes some more great weighted rotational moves.

How to do Osborn’s core workout

Osborn is using an 18lb (8kg) kettlebell, but select a weight that suits your ability. For beginners, I recommend starting with a 9lb weight. Either set a time for 30-45 seconds or do 10-12 reps. Aim for 2-3 rounds.

If you don’t own a kettlebell, you can use a dumbbell instead, although this adjustable kettlebell from Bowflex is currently reduced and a smart buy.

Why it’s worth developing rotational strength

You won’t develop washboard abs from doing this workout, but it will help you achieve something far more important—a functionally strong body that can handle what life throws at it.

“A lot of my patients I see report pain from doing really simple tasks,” says Helfrich. “A lot of times, these issues could have been prevented with proper functional training.

“Core-specific rotational exercises target muscles like the obliques that wrap around your torso, and are essential for moving your upper body across your core,” says Helfrich.

“This helps with activities like emptying the dishwasher or transferring laundry from the washer to the dryer.”

My hips tend to be a problem area. They’re stiff and tight, and my range of motion is poor even though I stretch regularly.

This TikTok post by physical therapy student Mircea Gavrila caught my attention because some of the stretches were new to me.

Instead of my faithful post-workout butterfly stretch or half-pigeon (which I am by no means bashing—I love them and they feel great), I realized that I could be doing more movement to improve my mobility.

But is this approach effective? I spoke to W. Zach Smith, the owner of HIDEF Physical Therapy, to find out.

“In general, I like to do dynamic mobility for the hips before exercise or activity and if I am going to do static stretching I will do it afterward for the cool down,” says Smith.

Static stretching is where you hold a fixed position for around a minute, which can help to reduce muscle stiffness. Dynamic stretching, on the other hand, involves controlled movement that takes a joint through a full range of motion.

Watch Gavrila's routine, then read on for Smith’s take and my experience of each exercise.

How to do this hip routine

1. Hip CARs

The expert view: “People tend to believe that range of motion, especially in the hip, is limited due to tight muscles,” says Smith. “While this can sometimes be the case, it can also be caused by a dysfunctional muscle that is unable to move the joint through a full range of motion. Doing CARs can help to unlock some of this motion.”

What it’s like: I found this move surprisingly comfortable, although my left hip made some noises the first few reps. I felt the stretch along the outside of my hip and back towards my glute. It left me feeling warmed up and ready to jump into some squats.

2. Lunge hip rocker

The expert view: “A great movement, especially as [Gavrila] is introducing a slight amount of motion into the stretch,” says Smith. “This can help to get a deep stretch and full mobility without the muscle guarding [when the surrounding muscles tense to protect a muscle].

“If he were to just push to a high-intensity stretch and hold it, his hip flexor would likely guard against that stretch and it would reduce the benefit of the stretch.”

What it’s like: Again, I really felt this up the outside of my hip on the leading (moving) leg, and also felt a good stretch up my groin on the trailing leg. I thought I would struggle to maintain my balance, but I found the stance surprisingly stable, even when moving.

3. Deep hip rocker

The expert view: “This will encourage hip flexion and external rotation. Both of these movements aren’t common in day-to-day activity,” says Smith. “This is a hard position for most to get into so if you can’t do this you can hold onto TRX straps or even just hold onto a post or pole in front of you to help maintain balance and assist getting in and out of the position.”

What it’s like: I struggled with this movement and couldn't get my feet to stay flat on the ground without toppling over. I had to raise slightly onto the balls of my feet with a slightly narrower stance to stay stable without assistance, but still felt the stretch deep in my hips and my inner thighs.

4. Heel touch

The expert view: “The heel touch is another example of controlled mobility. This is working on activation of the hip muscles and being able to use your available passive range of motion, actively,” says Smith.

What it’s like: This was another movement that felt more stable than I expected it to, although I did have to take it slow to maintain my balance. It noticeably activated the muscles around my hip, which had to engage to keep my leg lifted, and I felt the stretch all around‚ in my glutes, upper thigh, inner thigh and groin.

5. Stiff-leg deadlift (SLDL) with internal rotation

The expert view: “You get a hamstring stretch (but probably more of a sciatic neural gliding) along with closed chain (weight bearing) internal rotation of the hip, which can be very beneficial for hip and low back mobility,” says Smith.

What it’s like: I felt this stretch in my lower back, as Smith predicted, as well my outer hips again. I used a 6kg kettlebell, which may have been a little too heavy, but it was what I had to hand.

My verdict

I’m always amazed by how a good stretch makes me feel, but these dynamic stretches were next level. Rather than feeling loose and relaxed after the routine, I felt warm and ready to work out. I’ll be incorporating these moves into my regular strength workout as a warm-up.

While the first few reps were difficult, and I struggled with the wide stance of the deep hip rocker, I felt my range of motion improve. I went for a walk after and my hips felt looser and more comfortable when walking uphill when they usually twinge a little. With regular practice, I’m hoping to get my heels on the floor in the wide hip rocker and improve my overall hip mobility further.

It's annoyingly easy to roll your ankle when running. Uneven ground, tired running form, muscular imbalances and running shoes with towering stacks of foam underfoot all heighten the risk of a misstep.

And if you've turned your ankle once, it’s quite likely to happen again and again unless you work on getting them stronger, according to kinesiologist Carling Rees.

Rees recently shared this quick routine to strengthen weak ankles on Instagram and I got in touch with her to find out what else you can do to avoid ankle sprains.

How to do this ankle-strengthening workout

Why every runner should do ankle strength training

A sprained or rolled ankle is often the result of a lack of stability in key areas like the arch, tibialis anterior and, sometimes, calves, explains Rees. “Genetics can also play a role—factors like hypermobility (loose ligaments), structural muscle imbalances or even naturally higher arches can contribute to ankle instability. Other common factors include uneven terrain, improper footwear, and a lack of foot and ankle strength.”

So what’s the solution? “It’s important to train the lower legs just like you would train your lungs for a marathon, or your quads for a sprint.” says Rees.

“Incorporating ankle mobility exercises before a run, strengthening the anterior tibialis, and adding explosive movements can all help build resilience.

“Balance plays a huge role in ankle stability, yet it’s often one of the most under-trained areas. Strong muscles are important, but without good proprioception (your body's ability to sense its position in space), those muscles may not activate quickly enough to prevent a misstep.

“Training balance—through single-leg exercises, unstable surface drills and reaction-based movements—helps runners react faster and correct their gait before an injury occurs.”

And if you do get injured, stronger ankles means that you will recover quicker.

“When an ankle sprains but doesn’t break or tear, that tells us it takes a smaller amount of force to overstretch the ligaments—just enough to cause instability, but not enough for a full rupture.

“If the surrounding muscles are strong, they provide better control and help correct gait in real-time, reducing the likelihood of future sprains or more severe injuries.”

How often should runners do ankle-strengthening exercises? “I recommend two to three times per week, depending on their training load,” says Rees.

“In addition to strength work, warming up the ankles before a run with mobility drills, activation exercises and controlled movements can help prepare them for impact and reduce injury risk.

“Strengthening other areas—like the glutes, quads, and core—is just as important because a strong kinetic chain improves running form and reduces overall injury risk.”

After a long day at work, you probably can't wait to curl up on the couch and get back to whatever you're currently binge-watching. Although this might provide your brain with a break, it’s probably not doing your body any favors.

Spending too long sitting down has been linked to a number of health issues, including obesity and high blood pressure. It can also adversely affect your muscles.

“Prolonged sitting can lead to muscle atrophy (weakening of muscles) and stiffness, especially in the hip flexors, hamstrings, and lower back,” explains Sochi Friedman, a physical therapist at BetterMe.

This doesn't mean you have to give up your TV time, but it's worth finding ways to take a break from this position. Fitness coach Adam Richardson has shared a stretching routine designed to be done in front of the TV and it only takes five minutes.

How to do Adam Richardson’s TV stretching routine

You don’t need any equipment to do this routine, which means you can go straight from the couch to the floor.

The three stretches will mobilize muscles and joints across the body. Richardson recommends moving through the routine at your own pace, with the aim of stretching for a total of five minutes.

You should feel some immediate relief to stiff muscles, and you don't even have to take your eyes off the TV.

The benefits of stretching in front of the TV

"Taking breaks to stretch while sitting is crucial," says Friedman. “Stretching helps reduce stiffness and tightness that can result from sitting for long periods."

If you have tight hips, this could be caused by sitting down for long periods, weakening the hip flexors. These stretches will help keep your hips mobile.

"Stretching also improves blood circulation and enhances flexibility. This simple, effective habit can help mitigate the negative effects of prolonged sitting," adds Friedman.

Making stretching a habit is essential to reaping the benefits, which is why pairing it with an activity you do every day, such as watching TV, can be an effective way to ensure you stay consistent.

Set yourself the challenge of doing these stretches during the opening credits of your TV show each evening, your body will thank you for it when you sit back down.

Many of us struggle to find the time to make it to the gym, but if you buy a pair of dumbbells for your home, you can squeeze in effective full-body strength workouts in as little as 20 minutes.

This workout from personal trainer Rachael Sacerdoti jumped out at me as a great routine for time-poor exercisers, so I got in touch to find out more about the workout and each of the moves.

“This circuit provides an efficient, well-rounded routine that targets all major muscle groups,” says Sacerdoti. “By focusing on key compound movements you’ll build balanced strength, burn more calories and improve your functional fitness.

“Perform this routine two to three times per week with adequate rest and gradually progress the weight or reps for ongoing improvements.”

How to do this workout

While Sacerdoti has recommended 12 reps of each exercise and three rounds with a 30-second rest between rounds, you should adjust this to suit your fitness level and the weights you have available. A good rule of thumb is that the final few reps of each exercise should feel like a challenge but not so hard that your form suffers.

1. Squat

Reps: 12

Why: “Squats target the quads, glutes and hamstrings,” says Sacerdoti. “They build foundational lower body strength and help to improve your overall mobility.”

Form tips: “Keep your chest up, your knees in line with your toes and drive through your heels,” says Sacerdoti.

2. Bent-over row

Reps: 12

Why: “This exercise works the upper back and biceps, improving posture and upper body strength,” says Sacerdoti. “Performing bent-over rows helps to counteract forward shoulder posture by strengthening the back, which is crucial for balanced upper-body development.”

Form tips: “Maintain a neutral spine, hinge at the hips and pull the weight toward your lower ribcage,” says Sacerdoti.

3. Reverse lunge

Reps: 12

Why: “Reverse lunges engage the glutes, quads and hamstrings, while also challenging balance and stability. These reduce stress on the knees compared with forward lunges and address any muscle imbalances between your legs,” says Sacerdoti.

Form tips: “Step back far enough so that your front knee does not extend past the toes, and keep your torso upright.”

4. Romanian deadlift

Reps: 12

Why: “These target the hamstrings, glutes, and lower back and also improve your hip hinge mechanics,” says Sacerdoti. “They strengthen crucial muscles for posture and lower-body power while promoting good hip mobility.”

Form tips: “Hinge at the hips with a slight bend in the knees and keep your back straight,” says Sacerdoti.

5. Chest press

Reps: 12

Why: “Chest presses primarily work the pectorals, triceps and anterior deltoids, building upper-body pressing strength,” says Sacerdoti. “It’s an essential compound movement for upper-body strength and muscle development.”

Form tips: “Make sure to engage your core, keep your elbows slightly below shoulder level, and press straight up,” says Sacerdoti.

You don't need a gym membership to build muscle, even if you're an experienced exerciser. In fact, someone who knows what they're doing can achieve an awful lot with just a pair of dumbbells.

However, there's one piece of equipment that can help you get a lot more out of dumbbells, according to Liv Townsend, a yoga instructor who offers strength and mobility coaching, and that's a workout bench.

That's because when you do these exercises lying on the floor, your arms can't extend to their full range of motion. Bringing yourself away from the floor allows your muscles to extend further, which increases both strength and mobility.

The problem is, while you can slip your dumbbells under your couch when you're done with them, a sturdy workout bench tends to stick out like a sore thumb.

Thankfully, Townsend has shared a clever hack on Instagram if you don't have the space for a workout bench—use yoga blocks to raise your body off the floor, which will increase your range of motion during dumbbell exercises like chest presses and pull-overs.

Watch the Reel to see where Townsend suggests placing the blocks.

Yoga blocks on sale

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The importance of using your full range of motion in strength training

As Townsend explains in her Reel, if you don't use your body's full range of motion when strength training, this could make you stiff and inflexible.

Range of motion refers to how far your joints can move during an exercise. Everyone's range of motion is different, depending on your genetics, age and how much you move your body.

But by moving your muscles and joints to their full range of motion, you can maintain and even increase your flexibility.

Plus, it can improve muscle growth, because when you're doing exercises on a bench or on a block, you recruit more muscle fibers than you would doing the exercise lying on the floor.

Combining strength training with flexibility and mobility exercises is very important. That's because you can become stronger without improving your flexibility, which can lead to stiffness and joint pain.

You can also become more flexible without strengthening your joints and muscles, which can lead to injury or discomfort.

Simple hacks like this one will ensure you're getting the most from your workouts.

My experience swapping a bench for yoga blocks

I regularly use a workout bench at the gym to do dumbbell chest presses, so I was intrigued to see if this was an effective way to replicate it at home.

It was easy to set up the yoga blocks and I found that lying in that position immediately opened up my tight chest and shoulder muscles without starting any exercises.

I performed eight chest presses in this position and I found them more challenging with the blocks underneath me than I would if I was just doing them on the floor. Plus, I could feel the stretch through my chest as well as the muscles burning in my pecs and arms.

Of course, yoga blocks can't entirely replicate all of the advantages of an adjustable weight bench, such as being set at an incline for presses, rows and curls.

However, for a simple home hack, I think this is a great way to improve dumbbell workouts.

If you don't already have a pair of yoga blocks, they're one of my favorite pieces of equipment because there are so many yoga poses with blocks you can do and they're a great way to enhance your mobility practice.

There was a time when I considered going to the gym to be completely separate from the things I did in my everyday life. It was simply an attempt to maintain a healthy weight, or change the way my body looked.

But this meant I found I often lacked the motivation to exercise, because it felt like it had no practical impact on the way I was living.

However, as I got more into strength training, I realized that the opposite was true. Not only did I have less stiffness in my joints and muscles, but I was finding everyday tasks easier.

From carrying groceries home to walking up and down the stairs, or even just standing up on the bus or train, my body felt stronger and fitter than ever and I realized that going to the gym was benefiting my life in a great many ways.

That's why I'm a big believer in functional exercise. This means doing movements that mimic the way we move in everyday life to make that movement feel easier.

Two of my favorite online coaches Milad and Ryan of Tailored Fit PT recently shared a functional workout that is very similar to the routines I do.

According to Milad these exercises will help you stay pain-free and independent as you get older, but in my experience, doing moves like these ones will improve the way your body feels within months.

How to do Tailored Fit PT's functional workout

To do this routine you'll need a pair of dumbbells, something sturdy you can step on and off of, and something around knee height you rest on knee on.

The benefits of functional workouts

For an exercise to be functional, it needs to mimic the way you move during an everyday movement. For example, squatting mimics sitting down and standing up, step-ups mimic going up and down stairs and rows mimic opening a door or picking up an object.

These movements generally engage multiple muscle groups. For example, the squat requires multiple muscle groups in your lower body as well as your core to work together to complete the movement.

That's because in day-to-day life, we generally engage a range of muscle groups when we move, rather than isolating a particular muscle.

This doesn't mean that exercises that isolate muscles—such as glute kickbacks or biceps curls—aren't beneficial. They can play a role in strengthening weaker muscles and improving muscle activation.

But functional exercises are essential for better movement, developing posture, balance and stability, as well as helping you become more mobile.

It's well worth adding some functional exercises into your routine and the four moves above are a great way to get started.

In my other life as a personal trainer I often have clients come to sessions with war stories of twisting their ankle or straining their knees or hips during a run. Running injuries are fairly common, of course, but a decent warm-up can significantly reduce the risk. This is because your muscles and joints will be more flexible and prepared for physical activity.

Skip the warm-up and you could suffer from painful strains, pulls or tears that take ages to recover from. At the very least, not warming up before a run (and indeed any workout) could mean you don’t perform as efficiently during your session, getting less out of the time you've carved out to exercise.

To get you started, physical therapist W. Zach Smith from HIDEF Physical Therapy has created this quick mobility workout for runners to do at home before your run.

“These drills are great for runners because this warm-up is simple and easy, yet covers all the major joints of the legs and spine that are involved in running,” Smith tells me. “Many runners go straight out the door with no stretching and the first mile or so they feel tight and just aren't moving how they want.

“This short mobility routine will help not only progress their running but also lay the foundation for a consistent mobility routine, which is massively important.”

How to do the mobility drills

More tips for avoiding injury

Invest in running shoes

“For new runners, I always suggest getting fitted for good running shoes,” says Smith. “Make sure you are changing your shoes out according to the recommendations.” It's a commonly held view that running shoes need replacing after 300 to 500 miles of wear, although a lot will depend on how and where you run, and the style of shoe you use. Check with the brand you bought from for its guidance and keep tabs on the milage using a running app like Strava.

Don’t run too fast too soon

“Aside from that, the most important part of starting any new activity is the ramp up,” says Smith. “The way people get overuse injuries quickly is to ramp up too fast.

“It takes the body time to adapt to the force of the impact of running. The forces on your legs are two to three times your bodyweight while jogging.”

Rest if you injure yourself

“If you hurt your ankle on your run you should definitely get it checked by a physical therapist,” says Smith. “Depending on the severity of the injury, you may or may not need some sort of treatment. We see it so often where people don't get treatment and then they deal with recurrent sprains and a tight ankle for the rest of their life.”

“In general, if the ankle is swollen and painful, you shouldn't run on it,” says Smith. “Also, if you aren't confident that you won't sprain it again, you probably shouldn't run on it.

Once I started working with older people at my seated exercise classes, I discovered that one of their biggest concerns is losing their balance. In fact, many of them have a near constant fear of falling.

Maintaining ankle and knee stability as we age is crucial for preserving our balance, but it’s also something we should all be thinking about.

That's because balance is directly connected to posture. We need both good balance and good posture to help stabilize the body, to center the weight over our feet and reduce the risk of falls.

So the more we can all do to support strong ankles and knees, while improving our balance, the better. Unfortunately, our increasingly sedentary lifestyles mean we don’t have as many natural opportunities to challenge and develop our balance and joint stability, but certain exercises can help.

I came across one great example from online fitness coach Patrick DiBello, who demonstrated it to his 97.7K Instagram followers in this video.

All you need is a pair of light dumbbells, something like 1-3kg is ideal. DiBello recommends doing each exercise for 20 seconds on each side or 5-10 reps on each side. He also advises doing these exercises barefoot so that the muscles in your feet work harder.

Progress your balance training with these two moves

I recommend these two exercises to further challenge and improve your balance.

Single-leg Romanian deadlift

How to do it:

• Stand with your feet hip-width apart holding a dumbbell in your right hand.
• Lift your left leg behind you so your foot is just off the floor—pause as you get your balance.
• Hinge forward from your hips to lower your torso and the dumbbell down your right leg as you lift your left leg behind you. Stop when the dumbbell reaches your mid-shin.
• Pause at the bottom, staying balanced with your shoulders and hips square to the floor, then push your hips forward to return to the start with control, squeezing your glutes as you lower your left leg back to the floor.
• Begin with 8-10 reps each side.

Standing dumbbell march

How to do it:

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart holding a light dumbbell in each hand in front of your chest.
• Slowly lift your left leg, bending your left knee, until your knee is at hip height.
• Pause, then lower your leg to the floor with control.
• Repeat on the other side and continue, alternating sides with each rep, for 8-10 reps each side.

When we’re short on time and energy it can be tempting to skip a workout, but even a quick session, sometimes called an exercise snack, can be beneficial. When I’m really not in the mood to train, I often find that once I get started, I feel energised and end up exercising for longer than I originally planned.

If you can commit to 10 minutes, then this upper-body band workout by certified personal trainer Emma Goodman-Horne is a great one to try. Goodman-Horne, founder of Emergy, says you don’t need to lift heavy weights to build strength and muscle—all you need is a loop resistance band.

“Using mini loop resistance bands makes a huge difference to how you’re working the whole of your body,” Goodman-Horne tells me. “This workout is all about the upper body and core, and if you do it on the floor you are definitely attacking everything because you have to stabilize your whole body throughout each movement.”

Scroll down to see how to do it, and to read more about the benefits of short workouts.

How to do the workout

Aim for 10 reps of each of the following moves, and complete three rounds.

1. Bear crawl arm tap

Targets: back, core and triceps

Goodman-Horne says: “Make sure your fingertips are facing forward so you are working through the whole arm.”

2. Lat pull-down

Targets: back, chest and arms

Goodman-Horne says: “Now you are on the knees and you are pulling the resistance bands behind, making sure you are pushing out with the forearms to get the deepest pull at the back.”

3. Dip triceps pull

Targets: core, triceps and back

Goodman-Horne says: “Tilt forward into the triceps and pull the arms straight so you are working through the core at the same time. Keep the core engaged throughout the whole session and everything aligned as much as possible.”

Why short workouts are better than nothing

Short bursts of exercise are a great way to squeeze in some movement during the day, and exercise snacks, or micro-workouts, have been shown to have plenty of benefits. One study by McMaster University in Canada found that a 10-minute workout three times a week increased endurance by nearly 20%, and it also boosted insulin resistance in participants.

Just because you don't have time to make it to your regular workout class, or fit in a long run, that doesn't mean it's not worth exercising. A little bit of movement is better than none and it will probably leave you feeling better than before you started.

Yoga is a great form of exercise to do in short bursts, especially because the deliberate breathing can relax your body in minutes.

Adriene Mishler, better known to her 13 million YouTube subscribers as Yoga With Adriene, recently shared a yoga practice that takes just 15 minutes. According to Mishler, it will energize your body and reset your mind.

I've been doing yoga for 10 years and while I tend to do hour-long classes at studios, I've also tried plenty of Mishler's routines over the years and can see why she features in Fit&Well's list of the best yoga YouTube channels.

I'm always impressed by how good Mishler's routines can make me feel in my own living room, often in a short space of time, so I was keen to try her latest practice.

How to do Yoga With Adriene's 15-minute yoga practice

This is a follow-along routine so just press play and Mishler will guide you through it.

You don't need any equipment to do this routine although it is worth using a yoga mat to make your experience more comfortable. I use the Yogi Bare mat, which is super soft even after lots of use and I never feel like I'm sliding around on it, even when I'm sweating in downward dog.

My experience trying Yoga With Adriene's 15-minute yoga routine

This yoga practice is mainly made up of sun salutations, a sequence of traditional poses including forward fold (below), downward dog (above) and plank.

Moving through sun salutations is one of my favourite ways to practice yoga. It gets your heart rate up if you flow quickly through the poses and it engages muscles all over the body, so it's a great way to move.

I also find sun salutations very meditative, because my mind can focus on the flow and I'm able to forget about any stress or anxiety.

Mishler offers a few fun twists on the traditional sun salutation too, which help to mobilize the hip joints, so I'd recommend this routine to anyone who is dealing with stiffness in their hips.

There's also some time at the beginning and end of the routine to sit in stillness. It might not feel worth it if you are only practicing for 15 minutes, but taking the time to allow your body to destress is really worthwhile. I find it helps me return to my day feeling more refreshed, so try not to skip these parts of the practice.

I'll be coming back to this video as a quick way to get moving in the morning or take a break from my desk.

Spending too long sitting at a desk without moving can lead to a surprising number of health issues, from poor posture to neck, shoulder and back pain, while the lack of leg movement can sometimes cause issues with circulation, too.

Prolonged sitting can even slow the metabolism down, which impacts how the body regulates blood sugar and blood pressure, and metabolizes fat, which could potentially lead to weaker muscles and bones.

The good news is that with some simple stretches and movements you can relieve the tension and counteract some of the damage caused by sitting at your desk. The below routine by mobility coach Anthony Green takes just four minutes and is a great way to incorporate stretching into your working day.

How to do the shoulder stretches

Why stretching is important for desk workers

If you spend a lot of time at your desk then you will really benefit from a regular stretch routine, especially as you reach middle age.

“Mobility of our muscles and joints is something that becomes more important as we age,” chiropractor Dr. Anna Snook told me, “and if you're noticing you are less mobile in everyday tasks, it's likely that you need to add in regular posture breaks to your working day.

“You can also complete mobility workouts when you have longer breaks from work—there are lots online that you can follow along with the instructor virtually.”

So how long should desk workers spend stretching to counteract the damage of sitting? “This really depends on how well you tolerate long periods of sitting,” says Snook. “If you're experiencing stiffness, you can try posture breaks every 45 minutes, but if you are really struggling with neck and shoulder stiffness, then set an alarm for every 30 minutes. Use this time to have a wiggle, change position, stand, stretch and look out of the window for a few moments to reset.”

She also recommends reviewing your desk setup and stripping it back to basics. “Monitor that change, notice how you feel and then make further changes. A sit-stand desk can be helpful, to allow you to change postures more easily.”

Shop standing desks

Our colleagues at Tom's Guide have been testing the best standing desks. Here are their three top picks.

Mobility training is something I’m prioritizing now I’m in my mid-40s, because it's a time when the body naturally starts to lose flexibility and range of motion.

I’m also a firm believer that you don’t need to spend a fortune on gym equipment to stay strong and mobile, so I love this idea by Andrea Allen, a certified personal trainer and owner of Deliciously Fit ‘n’ Healthy.

She says the most affordable bit of kit that she uses daily is a PVC pipe that cost just $6 (like this five-foot long ¾-inch schedule 40 pipe from Lowes).

If you want to spend a little more you could invest in a mobility stick like this one from Amazon, but they both do the same thing.

Stick mobility training can lead to easier movement and it’s great for recovery as it can stretch sore muscles and joints, and increases flexibility by reducing the strain and tightness in the body.

In Allen’s Instagram reel, she demonstrates six ways to use the stick to warm up, improve mobility, increase range of motion and relieve muscle soreness.

One more way to use a mobility stick

Whether you have a bona fide mobility stick, PVC pipe or broom stick, you can also use it to practice the hip hinge, the fundamental movement pattern used in deadlifts and other exercises such as kettlebell swings. It's a movement people often get wrong which can place unwanted stress on your lower back. Here's a video demonstration of how to do the drill from The Barbell Physio, as well as my written instructions.

How to do it:

• Place the stick on your back and anchor it against your head between your shoulder blades and on your tail bone.
• Keep a light bend in the knees and hold the stick in contact with your head, upper back and butt.
• Push your hips and butt back and the stick will automatically fold you into a hip hinge position. Stand up straight and repeat as needed.

As you get older, it's normal to feel less steady on your feet. Your strength and mobility naturally decline, as does your balance, which can increase your risk of falls.

In fact, according to the CDC, there are about 3 million emergency department visits a year due to older people experiencing falls.

Keeping up an exercise routine to ensure your body is as healthy and strong as it can be is an excellent way to reduce your risk of falls.

Exercise scientist and strength and conditioning coach Pete Williams has also shared an exercise on Instagram that will help you maintain the strength to catch yourself if you trip.

The movement mimics the experience of falling, helping you to practice becoming steadier on your feet.

How to do the sprinter's fall

You don't need any equipment to do this exercise, although Williams recommends doing it with someone around to help support you. "You want to have some degree of risk as you need the acceleration and forces, but it needs to be as safe as possible," he tells me. You may want to consult a health professional before trying this exercise, especially if you have pre-existing conditions or injuries.

To do the exercise, stand up on your tiptoes and lean forward slightly, then allow yourself to fall forward, stepping your feet in front of you quickly to retain your balance.

Williams recommends completing a few reps of this exercise a day. "The key is to progressively overload your muscles and nervous system over time," says Williams. "So don't rush, but a few reps each day or every other day is fine."

How exercise can reduce the risk of falls as you get older

Physical activity has been shown to be one of the best ways to reduce your risk of falls.

A 2019 study of 8,000 older adults found that balance and functional exercises can reduce the rate of falls by 24%.

The above exercise is an example of a functional movement that mirrors the way we move in everyday life.

You can also try workouts that are designed to improve your balance, such as balance board exercises.

The glutes are the body’s biggest and most powerful muscle group in the body, and when you keep them strong you will be rewarded with better posture, balance and pelvic stability. Glute strength can also reduce back and knee pain, and improve sports performance.

And the good news is you don’t need to do thousands of squats to build muscle in the glutes—good to know if you suffer from knee pain which is triggered by squatting.

There are plenty of effective alternatives, like the three demonstrated in this workout from fitness trainer Julie Baird. All you need is a looped resistance band and a small Pilates ball (like this one on Amazon) to get started.

In the video below, Baird, who specializes in pre- and post-natal exercise, gives excellent form tips and breathwork guidance while demonstrating the three glute-strengthening exercises.

How to do Baird’s workout

How to breathe when exercising

It sounds obvious, but remember to breathe while exercising. Lots of people hold their breath while concentrating and/or holding an isometric exercise like a plank, and when you don't breathe during exercise, oxygen can’t get to the lungs efficiently, your heart rate and blood pressure increase, and it’s harder to get a good workout.

But there's also a trick to timing your inhales and exhales, which Baird demonstrates in the video. The golden rule is that you should inhale during the eccentric part of the exercise when a muscle lengthens while contracting and exhale on the concentric phase when the muscle shortens and contracts.

So for example, if you’re doing a squat, breathe in as you push your butt back and bend your knees to lower, then exhale as you squeeze the glutes and drive back up to starting position. The same goes for push-ups—inhale as you lower your body to the floor, and exhale on the exertion, or work, as you push yourself back up.

Proper breathing during exercise gives the body more control, helps to calm the mind and improves focus so that you can actively engage all your muscles. Over time, it can also reduce the amount of air you need to breathe in and out during training, which can lead to improved cardiovascular fitness.

A lot of my personal training clients come to me wanting to build core strength, particularly the deskbound workers who spend most of their time in an office chair. A weak core can put extra pressure on the spine, leading to back, hip or knee pain, poor posture and even trouble breathing because the core muscles include the diaphragm.

If you want to build core strength but get bored by doing multiple sets of the same exercise, then you’ll love this no-repeat kettlebell workout created by NASM-certified personal trainer Kaitlin Heaney. It features 13 moves, including unilateral and anti-rotational exercises, which are particularly effective at building core strength and stability.

Some of these exercises are done kneeling and that’s more challenging for the core muscles, because they are forced to work to keep the body in an upright position. Heaney is using a kettlebell but if you don’t have one you could also do these moves with a dumbbell. Scroll down to see how to do the workout.

How to do this workout

Before jumping into this workout it's important to warm up first and you should know how to engage your core, otherwise you may put too much pressure on your lower back muscles.

Why you should train your core with unilateral and anti-rotational exercises

Research published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology found that unilateral (one-sided) exercises activate the superficial core muscles (the rectus abdominis, external oblique and erector spinae muscles) more effectively than bilateral ones. Unilateral moves are also great for improving balance and promoting better functional movement patterns, while helping to correct muscular imbalances where one side is stronger than the other.

Anti-rotational core exercises meanwhile help to train one of the essential functions of the core that can be easily missed when exercising—resisting a rotational force. By training to resist movement, you engage multiple muscle groups so that they work together and get stronger. This type of exercise also promotes better posture during daily activities and exercise.