You already know exercise makes you look and feel younger. But here's a news flash: Exercise actually does make you younger—right down to your DNA. When researchers examined the lifestyle habits and DNA of more than 2,400 twins, they found that regular exercisers had significantly longer telomeres (a region of DNA that acts as a biological marker for aging) than their sedentary peers. (That's not all. See how daydreaming can shorten your telomeres, too.) Those who exercised a little less than 30 minutes a day had telomeres that looked 10 years younger than those who did just 16 minutes a week.
Ready to roll back the years? Our age-defying plan includes all the elements you need to get slimmer and feel younger—total-body strength, high-energy cardio, and stress-busting yoga. To improve results, we've also identified our favorite foods that fight fat and fend off age-related ills. Try our plan for 8 weeks and you'll drop up to two dress sizes while boosting your health.
Why It Works: Starting at about age 40, your metabolism slows by roughly 5% each decade. By age 50, you'll have gained about 10 pounds of fat and lost 5 pounds of muscle. Lifting weights counters this decline, boosting metabolism by about 7%, which burns about 100 extra calories a day. And the workout itself has an afterburn effect, which burns even more fat. A recent study found that women who strength-trained kept their metabolism revved about 2 hours postworkout, for a bonus burn of about 130 calories. Plus, exercise promotes the conversion of testosterone to estrogen in muscles, so you maintain higher estrogen levels, which helps keep midlife belly fat at bay.
More from Prevention: Get a Flatter Belly At Any Age
With more muscle, you'll also have more energy. "Often women will say, 'I used to garden,' or 'I used to dance,' but they've lost their strength," says Mubarakah Ibrahim, owner of Balance Fitness in New Haven, CT. "Strength-training turns the tide."
What to Do: Do 3 sets of 10 reps. Pick the level that suits you best: If the main move feels too hard, try the easier variation. If it's too easy, add more weight.
How Often: 3 days a week (20 minutes).
What You'll Need: A workout mat, a low step (or staircase step or table), and 5- to 10-pound dumbbells (if that weight feels easy to lift by the end of each set, use a heavier one).
(A) Sit on floor with back straight, leaning back slightly, knees bent, and feet flat on floor. Hold a dumbbell in each hand with elbows slightly bent, arms forward with palms facing each other.
(B) Keeping back straight, lower torso about halfway to floor. Rotate torso to the left, lowering left hand out to side and toward floor with elbow slightly bent; keep right arm at center. Return to start; repeat move to opposite side.
Make it easier: Bring weights straight out to sides; don't twist torso.
Firms chest, arms, shoulders, glutes Lie faceup on floor, knees bent, right ankle crossed over left knee. Hold weights at chest level, elbows bent 90 degrees, palms facing forward. Squeeze glutes and lift hips a few inches off the floor while pressing weights toward ceiling. Return to start. Perform half a set, then switch legs.
|Hammer-Curl Lunge |
Firms glutes, thighs, biceps
(A) Stand with feet hip-width apart. Hold a dumbbell in each hand with arms at sides, palms facing in. Take a giant step back with right leg, bending both knees until left thigh is parallel to floor, keeping left knee behind toes. At the same time, curl weights to shoulders, keeping elbows close to body.
(B) Stand back up, lifting right knee forward to hip height. Lower arms and return to starting position; switch sides.
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Part 2: Inches-Off Cardio
Why It Works: As you enter your 40s and beyond, estrogen levels dip, leaving you with more testosterone and the traditionally male-patterned weight gain around the middle that comes with it. To fight middle-age spread, make at least two of your weekly cardio workouts an interval routine, combining bursts of intensity and recovery. Canadian researchers found that just 2 weeks of alternate-day interval training boosted active women's fat-burning ability by 36%. "When you push your body, it responds by quickly increasing your ability to deliver blood to working muscles and to use oxygen and burn fat, in case you make it work that hard again," explains Martin Gibala, PhD, associate professor of kinesiology at McMaster University. Plus, intervals may help counter age-related health concerns: Researchers from Norway found that doing intervals reduced blood pressure, controlled blood sugar, and improved HDL (good) cholesterol.
More from Prevention: 9 Fat-Fighting Snacks
What to Do: Six days a week, pick an aerobic workout from our high-energy activities list (below) to burn about 450 calories. Make two of these workouts an interval routine (see "Intervals Made Easy," below). For the remaining 4 days, do some form of steady-paced aerobic exercise for 25 to 50 minutes to burn fat and stay fit.
How Often: 6 days a week (25 to 50 minutes).
Intervals Made Easy
Boost your calorie burn while turning back the clock with intervals. We've given a suggested treadmill routine, but you can do it with any cardio workout—just increase the intensity for the prescribed amount of time. Use your rate of perceived exertion (RPE; how difficult the activity feels on a scale of 1 to 10) to determine your pace.
Why It Works: Stress is one of the biggest contributors to the aging process, robbing you of precious sleep, increasing harmful inflammation, damaging your DNA, and even causing wrinkles. But yoga can be one of your best stress-busters: Recent studies have shown that yoga reduces markers of oxidative stress, a condition that can accelerate damage linked to aging. Yoga also improves flexibility, which deteriorates over time as the tissues that support your joints stiffen, and relieves back pain, so you move more easily. Best of all, you don't need a ton of time to reap these rewards, so long as you stay consistent. Daily yoga practice—even just 10 minutes a day—carries a greater benefit than a weekly class because you're fighting that stress a little at a time, says Carol Krucoff, a yoga therapist with Duke Integrative Medicine in Durham, NC, and creator of the CD Healing Moves Yoga. Do it first thing in the morning, she adds, and you'll increase energy, release tension, and start the day off right.
What to Do: The moves in this 10-minute routine are scientifically shown to fight stress. For each pose, inhale slowly and deeply through your nose for 5 seconds; exhale slowly for another 5. Try to clear your mind and allow yourself to focus on nothing but your breath moving through your body. Repeat this breathing pattern 3 to 6 times, then move to the next pose. (When you're done, try these additional 9 calming yoga moves.)
How Often: Daily (it's only 10 minutes!)
What You'll Need: A workout mat, yoga block or phone book, and some folded bath towels or blankets (optional).
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|Bound Angle Pose|
|Stretches inner thighs and groin muscles; traditionally thought to soothe menopause symptoms; reduces fatigue Sit tall with soles of feet together, knees bent out to sides. Bring heels as close to pelvis as comfortably possible. Grasp big toe of each foot with first and second fingers and thumb; hold here, sitting tall.|
|Make it easier: Place some thickly folded towels or blankets under each thigh for additional support.|
|Stretches hips, thighs, back From a kneeling position, sit back on heels and open knees about hip-width. Bend forward, lowering upper body between thighs and forehead toward floor; bring arms in front of body, palms down.|
|Make it easier: Place a thickly folded towel or blanket between your calves and hamstrings.|
|Stretches spine, chest, abdomen; relaxes lower back Lie on back with knees bent, feet flat on floor, and arms at sides with palms down. Press into soles of feet and lift hips. Slide yoga block under tailbone, then allow body to rest on block. Remain here, breathing evenly. To come out of the pose, press into feet, lift hips, remove block, lower back to floor, then gently roll up to a seated position.|
|Make it easier: Use a lower part of the block, or substitute a phone book for the yoga block.|