Health and Fitness Tips

Health and Fitness Tips -Anti-ageing exercises:


Age: 40's-50's:

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


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


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


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


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



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

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

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