Ab wheel rollouts (or ab rolling) are not only one of the best ways to strengthen your abs, but they will also strengthen our entire body.

People often think performing sit-ups is the best way to develop their abdominal muscles. Still, ab rolls are better than sit-ups for developing muscular endurance and overall fitness when performed correctly.

The ab wheel works better than traditional abdominal exercises such as crunches because it trains our core muscles in a different way. It can look super easy but don't be deceived.

Rollouts are challenging because they take much more coordination and control than a typical ab exercise. You must squeeze your butt, engage core muscles, and keep your hips and shoulder blades stable to see progress. The ab wheel isn't just about building strength; it also helps develop flexibility.

​Ab wheel rollouts primarily engages two of the most important muscles of the core: the rectus abdominis ("6-pack"), and the transverse abdominis, which are the core muscles surrounding our belly button and stabilising our torso.

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​At the gym I see lots of middle-aged people spending lots of time in the aerobics room, and few of them building strength in the weights area. Those that are in the weights area are more often than not sitting on machines taking a rest.

It's not hard to conclude that most people past 45 don't place a high value on all-round body strength. Yet, all round body strength is one of the most fundamental physical assets that will help them improve their quality of life - and their longevity.

And my observation over 22 years at the gym is that, in particular, most midlife women limit their understanding of "exercise" to cardio like biking or running. The idea that they could actually become strong perhaps seems absurd to the point that it never strikes them as a real possibility.

But more than men, women 50+ need strength training to regain essential components of their degenerating musculoskeletal system.

Pull-ups are a fantastic pull exercise, and we don't do enough pull exercises. That's why we see so many rounded-hunched shoulders in the gym, and they look bad on men and even worse on women (because it makes them look so much older).

It's a shame to see people putting in all that work and building a poor posture instead of a stronger one. Pulls-ups develop a more robust and more attractive posture. If you can do one proper pull-up, I'll show you how to build that up to 15.

Physical exercise guidelines generally recommend 300 minutes of moderately-intensive exercise a week as a good minimum. Doing any physical activity is better than none. But would you rather try a little harder and live longer?

A research study conducted nearly 20 years ago and since cited by nearly 1000 other studies tested the prognostic capacity of exercise for mortality. The study tracked 6,213 men over 6 years, during which time there were a total of 1256 deaths. 

​Here's what the data showed, which is exciting. Exercise capacity is the most powerful predictor of mortality, even among those with existing cardiovascular diseases risk factors. Exercise capacity is not relative capacity adjusted for age - that was not found to be a good predictor - but absolute fitness.

Since the lockdown began, I have had to stop doing my more intense strength exercises at the gym - I used to go three times weekly. Like you, I've read that our muscles "turn to fat" when we stop exercising.

That's a scary thought, especially after 20 years of progressively building my muscular strength and endurance.
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There's good news and bad news. The good news is that our muscles don't turn to fat - that's not even remotely true. The bad news is that our bodies will accumulate more fat if we continue to eat the same amount as we did with more muscle.

Calculating your body mass index (BMI) is one way of trying to work out whether you are within a healthy weight range for your height. However, recent research found that a "healthy" BMI was not associated with the longest life - if you are over 65.

That's a surprising finding, despite the well-known limitations of the BMI as a predictor of good health. Let's examine some of those limitations and then review the implications of the research for over 65s.