Utilise your body weight, you can do it anytime, anywhere, without the need for equipment.

Quite often all it takes is a mind-shift.

If you go to the gym you will see a lot of people with their set routine. Pretty much the same every session. Same number of repetitions, same weight, same order and same result.

That is not what we are after. We champion progressive loading. As soon as you can do it; we change it.

There are lots of ways to progressively load. Add more weight. Add more reps. Decrease the rest time. Change the speed.

There’s a place for machines and I use them occasionally. They are safe when you are starting. Provided you adjust all the settings (and remember them for each machine) you exercise in exactly the same position each time and it is pretty easy to gauge if you are improving.

There is no dynamic or balance component however which is the fall-down point when you apply your strength gains in real life.

Spend 12 months learning to do a pull-up and then have a go at the machines. Or do 12 months on the machines and then have a go at a pull-up. You will pretty quickly find out what is more effective.

They are boring. From my observation in the gym, most people whose preferred exercise mode is the machines don’t stick around.

Aerobic activity burns calories and can work for you; depending on your natural aerobic ability, level of fitness and body fat percentage. Aerobic capacity never leaves some people. Others struggle. If you are in the struggling category, if you are in the other category toughing out that 30-minute run is likely elevating your cortisol levels and leaving them elevated. Inflaming joints and organs. And producing glucose which leads to weight gain. Particularly in areas where you are not looking for weight gain.

You can get around the cortisol problem but it needs a strategy rather than toughing it out.

There is significant evidence to show that poor handgrip strength is an indicator of cognitive decline and susceptibility to dementia and dementia-related diseases. The evidence is widely spread across disparate cultures. A number of studies have put older adults with low handgrip strength at 1.8 times greater risk of dementia.

A lot of the exercises we perform and train in significantly increase grip strength.

I spend a lot of time lunging and squatting, not because I am particularly enamoured of lunging and squatting, but because when I am 90, I want to get up out of a chair without the assistance of the chair arms, table and whatever else is handy.

There’s a lot to be said for getting up in the morning and putting on your undies without sitting on the side of the bed. Or looking like an idiot.

We have a bar. We have a bench. We don’t have any bar stands. Do you really want to do Bench-press? It is useful to gauge strength. It’s a benchmark. It’s a pretty hard benchmark to shift though; unless you have testosterone flooding your body. And it is time-consuming.

I am anal about recording my exercise sessions. Particularly the number of reps, weight, and times. Results are one of the primary measures of success and it is near impossible to remember how many Press-ups you maxed out on last week, let alone last month and six months ago.

If we are having a bad day and feeling weak (if you record) it’s pretty easy to look back a couple of months and see that in fact, we are miles ahead of where we used to be. A bad day is just that: a bad day.

If you train with me I do the recording for you.

My focus in training is compound exercises. Both from the viewpoint of effectiveness and applicability to everyday living, time management and burning more calories.

You see a lot of people at the gym doing Dumbbell Curls. Usually in front of mirrors, but not always. Dumbbell Curls exercise the elbow flexor muscles primarily (biceps brachii, brachialis and brachioradialis). You need to do one arm at a time so you double the amount of time of most exercises.

Compare that to Deadlift which uses the gluteus maximus, rectus femoris, biceps femoris, hamstrings, quadriceps, latissimus dorsi, traps, lower back (erector spinae), abdominals, rhomboids, middle traps, and serratus.

I know what I would prefer to do. However, if you go to the gym and observe what happens in the area where people use Dumbbells you will probably see 3- or more people doing various Dumbbell exercises. In the area where people can do Deadlift you might see 3. If you are lucky.

Is serially unpopular. For whatever reason. Maybe because it looks ungainly. Or just looks like one of those exercises where people struggle to see what muscle it is working on. This is understandable, given it works so many.

However, it is simple to perfect and relatively easy. Plus, it has a myriad of carryover benefits in everyday life.

Another compound exercise. Lose your ability to squat and you are dramatically changing the way you live out your later years. Kiss goodbye to picking up something off the ground without getting down on a knee or two; not to mention having a hand or two free to get yourself back up again.

Squats improve your coordination, strength, and flexibility as well as increasing muscle mass. They burn significant calories because they are a compound exercise.

They also give you confidence. Squats are one of those exercises that signal you have still got it.

As estrogen and testosterone levels decline so does power and strength. Full answer to come.

We tend to concentrate on the pushing up (concentric) component of an exercise (think Press-up) and view the going back down to the floor (eccentric) component as the easy part that prepares us for another push-up.

However, done correctly, the eccentric component of an exercise is where we build muscle mass and increase strength.

Toes2Bars is a classic example. Getting your toes over the bar is one thing. Getting your legs back down without looking like an unopened parachute hurtling to the ground is another thing.

Slow, deliberate movements work, and we build that into our training.

We train balance because your sense of balance deteriorates as you age, falls are more likely. With age and inactivity, the unconscious processes your brain goes through to keep you balanced may not function as well or as quickly as they used to. What was automatic and subconscious starts to require some conscious effort.

I use the BOSU ball to improve my balance. I have a suite of exercises I perform. Not only does it help with your balance it also gives you real-life practice in recovery strategies when you are about to tip over.

It has the added benefit of making exercises harder. So less exercise, more benefit.

One kilo of muscle burns 3 calories a day. So, for me, that is 90 calories a day. A kilo of fat burns 1 calorie per day.

Billy Graham

Foam roller

Active stretching v passive stretching

Pull-Ups. Bar Hangs and untold variations (windshield wipers, round the world, Toes2Bars, Legs Up), Russian Twists, Press Ups, Dips, TRX Ropes, Deadlift, Underarm Row, Squats, BOSU Ball, Planks, Kettle Bell Swings, Gymnastic Rings, Tyre Hacks, Indian Clubs, Exercise Bands, Weighted pack Walking, Uphill Sprints and last but not least, Lunges.

I take a small number of supplements. I also cycle in and out which appears to provide maximum benefit. I get curious about some supplements and give them a try but I figure in most cases I am just adding to somebody’s bottom line.

You may not stick to Keto, but it is invaluable on your journey to becoming a fat burner.

You can OD on avocado and bacon and find it hard to look an egg yolk in the eye.

Save time, effort and money. Preserve nutrition. Make multiple meals easily. $70 at The Warehouse or Kmart. Turn cheap cuts of meat into gourmet delights. The best investment you will ever make.