When it comes to anti-aging, it’s not all about reducing wrinkles – instead, it is a harmony of looking and staying fit. Important is to keep your body moving and your brain sharp, so you can slow down the clock and enjoy every decade of life – just as it’s meant to be.

Studies show, that a person leading a sedentary life start to lose muscle mass as soon as around age 20. However, if you are staying active and fit, even at 60 years old, you can maintain your muscle mass. It’s a fantastic news and we are gladly showing you some tips on what to include in your daily routine in order to be able to enjoy life to the fullest.

Don’t Be Afraid of High-Impact Activity

Elderly people tend to avoid jumping because it will hurt the knees and hips. However, you need impact to build bone density. Of course, we are not talking here about doing crazy-intense jumping moves all the time; in fact, a ‘forceful step’ like the one you do when squishing a bug is enough to make a difference. You can do forceful stepping in lot of situations: for example, when you march, squat and lunge.

Do the squat right

You might not notice but you squat all the time – think of picking up your bag of groceries from the floor, for instance. So, it’s pretty much important, to do it right.

For women: turn your toes out slightly. It’s a simple but useful trick. It will allow your femur to line up properly in the hip joint which will cause your knees to track over your ankles – instead of caving in. It gets you stronger knee joints and less knee pain. Also important is to step the feet slightly wider than the hips.

For men: their hip structure is different, so best for them is to squat with toes forward.

Go for more cardio

According to U.S. guidelines, a weekly 150 minutes of cardio workout is the optimum for heart health. However, new researchers have found it to be at around 240 minutes per week. Aerobic activities boost the mitochondrial function of the cells (the work of energy-produce in cells) which decreases with age otherwise.

Tip: if you find these 4 hours of cardio per week too much, opt for interval trainings – they are one of the most efficient trainings that improve aerobic fitness.

What About Hacking Your Genetics?

Let’s clear up this widely known misbelief that you can’t change your genes. Of course, you can’t change your genetic makeup but you are able to change how certain genes are expressed. It means you can influence how much they do what they do. Key is here: strength training. Studies show that just as much as 26 weeks of resistance training reverses the aging process at a genetic level!

It trains your tissues and preserves muscle mass that we normally lose when we age.

Train your brain

The more activities you do that involves your brain and memory, certainly the better. These can be memorizing different choreographies (like in Zumba or step aerobics), reaction training (such as playing tennis) and changing direction (like in dance classes or kickboxing).

Connect the two halves of your brain

That’s an amazing trick to keep your brain fresh and activate both halves of it. All you need to do is to include moves that cross your arms and legs. The connection between the right and left hemispheres of the brain declines as we age which causes ‘brain delays’ – as the communication doesn’t go smooth between the halves. However, crossing limbs forces the two sides to connect.

Track your steps

Would you think that the mere fact of checking the number of the steps you take daily, makes you more motivated to do more? Studies show in fact, that tracking your steps doubles how many you take. So go to the next store, get your favourite fitness bracelet and stay on track.

+1. Facial yoga

Face yoga is especially designed for anti-aging. It targets the muscles of the face that hold tension and doing it on a daily basis, can counteract the effects of the facial expressions that we tend to do all the time and thus, contribute to the formation of wrinkles and fine lines.