Shutterstock/Dean Drobot
If you want to live a long and healthy life, you should make sure you're getting enough exercise.
It will keep your brain healthy and can add years to your life. Researchers have found that many fit older adults have the muscles and bones of people years - even decades - younger.
And any exercise is good for you, whether you go for a quick swim or jog or even if you are just walking to the store instead of driving.
If you are doing any or all of that, great.
But while a basic minimum amount of exercise does have huge benefits, there are still potentially even greater benefits from doing more.
If you really want to stay strong even as you age and your body starts to decline, there are two exercises that are essential, Dr. Michael Joyner, a physician and Mayo Clinic researcher who is one of the world's top experts on fitness and human performance, tells Business Insider.
But these aren't easy: burpees and jumping rope. (He recommends trying a weighted jump rope.)
Shutterstock/Dragon Images
Why burpees and jumping rope?
No matter what, your body starts to lose strength as you age. Most people reach their strength peak around age 25, and some research shows marathon runners tend to be fastest at 28, though, of course, this is going to vary from person to person. If you started strength-training after 25 and hadn't before, your peak would come later.
But if you want to truly stay fit, you're going to need to keep building strength to combat your body's natural loss of muscle mass. It's worth it to do so, and it may be the thing that keeps you young longest. As Joyner wrote for Outside Magazine, "study after study is showing that simple tests of physical performance are highly predictive of future mortality." To achieve peak physical performance at any age, you need to go beyond endurance to build strength.
You can build strength in a lot of ways - lifting weights and adding intervals to endurance workouts both work. But these two workouts will build both your endurance and your strength, all at once.
"On hard days, I'll sometimes alternate a minute of burpees with sets using a weighted jump rope," Joyner tells us.
Ouch.
How to do these workouts
Trainers love to recommend burpees, simply because they're hard to beat in terms of single exercises that will work your whole body. Instagram-famous fitness trainer Kayla Itsines recently said a burpee with a push-up would be the exercise she'd choose "if she had to pick one" for a full-body workout; and if you want a real crazy challenge, you could try trainer Bobby Maximus' "prison burpee" workout that he uses to challenge Special Forces soldiers.
But it's worth starting slow with burpees just to make sure you get the form right. If you start standing, you'll then squat down until you can put your hands on the ground. Kick back into plank position, do a push-up, then kick your legs back into your squat position. Then jump.
Here's a GIF to show you how it works, from this YouTube video by ScottHermanFitness:
This video by XHIT Daily on YouTube is also useful, showing burpees done with a wider stance, which can be more stable for someone not accustomed to the exercise.
Jumping rope with a weighted rope is a more straightforward exercise, but the challenge is no joke. You can find a variety of recommended workouts, but generally (once you get up to speed), you'll want to do a series of sets, perhaps alternating with another exercise. If you're feeling tough, you can try alternating with burpees, like Joyner.
Just remember this, though: These workouts are going to be hard. It's great to push yourself, and there's plenty of research showing strong benefits for vigorous exercise. But it takes time to build up to these kinds of exercises (and practice to get them right), and you should talk to your doctor first if you're worried you might injure yourself.
Anyone who wants to attempts these intense workouts also needs to remember to rest. Most trainers recommend alternating between hard days and easy days.
"Make your hard days hard and your easy days easy," says Joyner. "Control your pace or it will control you."
More from Kevin Loria:
- The 2 exercises that will keep you fit for life
- Scientists discovered a new 'shin-destroying' armored dinosaur - and named it after Zuul from 'Ghostbusters'
- These are the worst stings in the world, according to a guy who's experienced them all
- Here's where you're most likely to live longest across the US
- Here are the 6 questions that can reveal whether you have adult ADHD