It is safe to say that many people, both young and old, could do well by developing their overall strength. Most, however, are unable to lift their own body weight. Improving this strength goes a long way in protecting quality of life as you age, especially for women.

If your primary exercise is walking — and you’ve even jumped onto the fitness bandwagon with an activity tracker to keep up with your number of steps and calories burned — I have some news you should really appreciate…

Many stretches isolate a single muscle or muscle group. And stretching the entire body can take quite a bit of time and energy. But this one yoga exercise, steeped in tradition, stretches the entire body in one sequence.

Imagine living your life around your next atrial fibrillation episode. Many people do as it’s a very common cardiac rhythm disorder. But being common doesn’t make it any less difficult — or worrisome: There is no cure and complications can lead to stroke.

No matter what you do, don’t stop moving. Dance, walk, jog, garden, swim, chase grandkids — anything that keeps your body in motion. That is, if you want to keep your brain from shrinking.

Fitness training and exercise in general can sometimes get boring. But not this time. With these exercises you can invoke the power of Thor the thunder god while using sledgehammers to develop strength throughout your body.

Using resistance bands is a terrific way to strengthen and tone your body without the need for fancy weight lifting equipment or a gym membership. They are inexpensive and come in a variety of tensions to match your level of fitness.

Any comprehensive exercise program should include a variety of types of exercise. The following six exercises can help keep you healthy and keep your workout fun, interesting, and effective.

Dynamic warm ups are a challenging way to begin any exercise or fitness routine. And when there is a series of them that you can do, they often can replace the traditional workout, becoming a warm-up and workout at the same time.

Advanced dynamic warm-ups are great to do before any exercise routine, even walking or biking. They warm up the body while moving it dynamically, to increase blood flow, stretch muscles, and loosen joints all in an effort to get you ready to exercise while reducing risk of injury.

Even if you don’t have time you must make time to warm-up sufficiently before working out or exercising. You increase chances of a successful workout while decreasing chances of injury if you thoroughly warm-up your entire body first.

One simple activity can exert a tremendous influence over your health, lowering your risk of Alzheimer’s, protecting your heart, defending against cancer, decreasing your risk of disability, controlling your weight and increasing your life expectancy.