Strength and flex workouts

The more muscle we have the more calories we burn when moving more. So giving the “Strength and Flex” podcasts a go, might be a great addition to your moving more action plan.

A great benefit of moving more is that it can improve your blood profile, often described by your healthcare team as 3 treatment targets; blood glucose, blood pressure and blood cholesterol.

Strength training, an anaerobic exercise, can help you to manage blood sugar levels in the same way as running or walking, which are both aerobic.

Increasing your muscle strength can:

• improve your confidence and how you feel about yourself.
• prevent falls now and later in life.
• help you to perform daily movements better.
• reduce your risk of injury.
• help you reach a healthier weight if overweight

Muscle-strengthening exercises are counted in repetitions and sets. A repetition is one complete movement of an activity, such as a sit-up. A set is a group of repetitions.

Searches for ‘home workouts’ quadrupled in 10 years

The NHS “Strength and Flex” podcasts are like having your own fitness coach.

This virtual trainer offers 5 sessions lasting 35-45-minutes that will improve strength and flexibility – and no equipment is needed. 

The workouts are paced in a way that’s easy to follow, so you can do each exercise correctly and in your own time.

The “Strength and Flex Plan” is available as a mobile download for MP3 players and smartphones.

Types of exercise you should do

Older adults should do two types of physical activity each week to improve health, which are aerobic exercise and strength exercises. So you can use the “Strength and Flex” programme with the NHS’s “Couch to 5k” to cover both types of exercise..

Don’t worry if you’re not as fit as you used to be because your free personal trainer will help you: download the Strength and Flex resource now.

Read our safe not scared page to learn how to exercise safely.

Scroll to the bottom of the page to check out some strength and flexibility videos created especially for people with long term conditions.