We all know that exercise is the key to living a long and healthy life. Not only does it have a positive effect on your mood, but it can strengthen bones and ward off chronic illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes.
Unfortunately, midlife (roughly the period between your 40s and 60s) often throws up obstacles that make it hard to exercise. It’s tricky to find time to work out when you’re looking after kids, focusing on your career or going through peri-menopause. The solution? Short workouts that you can do with minimal equipment.
“You are more likely to stick with exercise if it’s a short routine,” says Caroline Idiens, a personal trainer and expert in midlife exercise, who created the Caroline’s Circuits online platform.
“However, as we enter midlife, it’s important to introduce strength-training and compound functional exercises. These mimic everyday activities and work more than one muscle group simultaneously, building strength, mobility, balance and performance.”
Idiens has crafted this 10-minute, six-move dumbbell workout exclusively for Fit&Well, which features foundational push, pull, squat, hinge and carry movements that will help you build functional strength.
Caroline Idiens is a personal trainer with more than 20 years’ experience, and is an expert in fitness during midlife. Idiens is also the founder of Carolines Circuits, an online strength-training platform where she hosts live and pre-recorded classes for members.
The workout
- Weighted goblet squats: 10-12 repetitions
- Press-ups: 10-12 repetitions
- Bent-over row: 10-12 repetitions
- Lunge with rotation: 10-12 repetitions
- Biceps curl into shoulder press: 10-12 repetitions
- Suitcase carry: 30-60 seconds
After completing the required number of repetitions of an exercise, rest for 30 seconds then move onto the next one. When you’ve worked through the full list of exercises, take a one minute breather, then repeat the whole sequence two more…
Read the full article here
