As we age it can become harder to stay fit and healthy as we once were. Not only can we have less energy but we may be more prone to injury or parts of our bodies generally feeling weaker or achy.
Although this might make it tempting to adopt a more sedentary lifestyle the older we are, research has shown that regular exercise can contribute to staving off dangerous health issues such as cardiovascular disease, fatty liver disease and even dementia.
Maintaining a healthy weight is also an important part of this.
On top of this we want to keep our belly fat to a minimum to prevent a build up of potentially dangerous visceral fat inside.
One highly experienced fitness guru shared a simple at-home exercise she does herself to keep herself both healthy and energised, and her belly flat.
Denise Austin, a professional fitness coach who has worked in the industry for 40 years, took to social media platform TikTok to reveal her secret.
When asked by a fan, “What’s your favourite move to flatten your lower belly?” she responded with a step-by-step video.
Speaking to her more than 110,000 followers, she said: “Here’s my favourite exercise that I like to do to help flatten my lower belly.
“Grab a pair of weights. It’s a standing crunch with your knee lifted.”
She explained how to carry out the move while demonstrating it for the video.
“So what you’re going to do is lift your chest nice and high, stretch it up, and then crunch forward, pulling your knee toward your chest and pushing back up,” she said.
“That’s it. Pull your belly button up and in. Engage your abs and push back up. That’s it. Sustaining crunch.”
She recommended performing the move 15 times on each leg for the best results.
Her followers were blown away by the 67-year-old’s appearance in the comment section.
One said: “You look INCREDIBLE.”
Another commented: “I used to exercise with you as a kid as my older siblings watched and laughed. Guess who’s still in shape?
“You were my hero then and still look fabulous as ever!”