Focusing purely on the movement side of longevity, I decided to speak to Dr Mohammed Enayat, a practicing medical doctor and the founder of HUM2N<\/a>, a pioneering longevity clinic based in London.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n Enayat shared some advice for longevity with Fit&Well, explaining some of the reasons why our bodies degrade as we age, and how we can slow that process down.<\/p>\n How the body slows down with age<\/p>\n First, he explained sarcopenia\u2014the loss of muscle mass as we age\u2014to me in terms of the number of burpees you can do.<\/p>\n \u201cIn your 20s, you might be able to do 10 burpees to maintain a certain muscle size, volume and function. Then, when you\u2019re 50, you would probably need to do 20 burpees for the same response,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n He listed how the body also slows down in other ways:<\/p>\n \u201cWe stop producing as many stem cells from our bone marrow as we age and the stem cells are the precursors for tissue growth, so our ability to grow new tissue decreases.\u201cThe amount of our blood supply: our cardiovascular systems become less efficient over time due to cholesterol buildup in the vessels.\u201cOur assimilation of protein through our digestive tract means that we don’t seem to absorb as much protein due to the degradation of the small intestinal wall. So our absorption across the small intestine into our bloodstream of those protein-building blocks means that we’re not getting as much into our blood in the first place.\u201cThe other problem is that in reality we use our muscles less as we get older, we\u2019re much more active in our teens and 20s than in our 40s and 50s, so they atrophy.\u201dHow to slow the aging process<\/p>\n But it\u2019s not all doom and gloom, here are his top three movement tips for mitigating all of the above to increase your chances of living a long and healthy life.<\/p>\n 1. Strength training <\/p>\n \n (Image credit: Getty Images \/ gorodenkoff)<\/p>\n Enayat says strength training is key to longevity. \u201cThe muscles that protect the joints, the hips particularly\u2014so your quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes\u2014get underused as we get older, which puts people at more risk of frailty.\u201d<\/p>\n He told me that one of the main predictors of death is a fracture in the femoral neck\u2014a crucial part of the hip joint. It\u2019s difficult to recover from, and even if someone is active beforehand, it can speed up their decline into immobility, disability and eventually death.<\/p>\n You can reduce your risk of this sort of fracture by building and maintaining the hip-protecting muscles mentioned above. \u201cIt\u2019s important to start as early as possible to preserve and strengthen those muscles and work against the natural sarcopenia,\u201d says Enayat.<\/p>\n This beginner strength training routine for home<\/a> is one way to start.<\/p>\n 2. Aerobic exercise<\/p>\n \n (Image credit: Getty Images \/ andreswd)<\/p>\n It is important to maintain your cardiorespiratory muscles and you won\u2019t get much cardiovascular benefit from your strength training, so Enayat recommends breaking a sweat from aerobic exercise twice a week.<\/p>\n Instead of prescribing specific exercises, as this varies depending on your fitness level, ability and preferences, Enayat breaks it down by heart rate zones<\/a>, which instead, are based on how hard your heart is working.<\/p>\n Each zone is calculated based on your maximum heart rate and how close to this it is functioning.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a brief rundown of the most common definition of heart rate zones:<\/p>\n Zone 1: 50-60% of your maximum heart rateZone 2: 60-70% of your maximum heart rateZone 3: 70-80% of your maximum heart rateZone 4: 80-90% of your maximum heart rateZone 5: 90-100% of your maximum heart rate<\/p>\n The great thing about defining your exertion by heart rate zone rather than simply saying \u201cgo away and do 45 minutes on the treadmill\u201d is that your cardiovascular exertion is tailored to you.<\/p>\n \u201cFor some people, they might break a sweat by walking up the stairs if they’re deconditioned. For some, it might be a light jog, for some it might be a sprint,\u201d says Enayat. Ideally, you want to be in zones two to three for 45 minutes, twice a week, as a minimum.<\/p>\n \u201cThen in zone four, you want to be getting your heart rate up in shorter spells,\u201d he adds. \u201cThat might be things like Tabata or HIIT training that you might want to do once or twice a week as well, for a minimum of five minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/LrKUqK2M7yfWDmXLgnLckb.jpg\")
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