Building lifelong strength doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, it’s often a case of the simpler, the better. If your goal is to stay active and capable for life, finding exercises that work your whole body and can be repeated week after week – rather than complex routines that take days to recover from – is often the key to making lasting progress.

That’s something Jeff Sutherland – trainer and founder of the Midlife Fit Club – knows well. At 54, he recently took to Instagram to share the five exercises he hopes to ‘keep doing for life’ to stay ‘strong, active, athletic and capable’.

‘Together, they cover my full body: cardiovascular exercise, lower-body strength, hip power, pushing strength, pulling strength, core stability and grip,’ he wrote. ‘The goal is to keep doing the things I love for as long as possible.’

Jeff Sutherland’s 5 Exercises for Lifelong Fitness (and Why They Work)

Walking

Sutherland says brisk walking is a cornerstone of his routine, benefiting both his physical and mental health.

‘It supports my heart, clears my mind and it’s something most people can do,’ he says.

When it comes to lifelong fitness, walking is hard to beat. Research has found that people who average around 7,000 steps a day have a 50% to 70% lower risk of premature death, alongside a reduced risk of depression.

Picking up the pace may be even more beneficial. A recent study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that while people who accumulated 7,500 to 10,000 steps a day had the lowest overall risk of early death, those who walked fewer than 5,000 steps but at a faster pace still had a lower risk than people who accumulated 5,000 to 7,500 slower steps.

Squats

Squats are one of the best compound exercises for building strength that carries over into everyday life, so it’s no surprise they feature on Sutherland’s list.

‘[I do] squats to keep my legs strong and capable for everyday life,’ he says.

Squats strengthen everything from your quads and glutes to your hamstrings, calves and core. They’re also endlessly scalable, whether by adding weight or progressing to variations such as goblet squats, Hindu squats or Cossack squats.

Kettlebell Swings

Another excellent compound movement, kettlebell swings train your back, glutes, hamstrings, quads, calves and core.

They also develop explosive hip power, a quality that naturally declines with age but plays an important role in maintaining mobility and reacting quickly enough to prevent falls.

‘Kettlebell swings strengthen my core, grip, glutes and hamstrings,’ Sutherland says. ‘They also build strong hips.’

If you spend much of your day sitting at a desk, swings can also help counter some of the effects of prolonged sitting by strengthening the muscles around your hips.

Push-Ups

Push-ups may be simple, but they’re incredibly effective.

‘They strengthen my chest, arms and core, and I can do them almost anywhere,’ Sutherland says.

Push-ups are a great measure of relative strength – how strong you are in relation to your own bodyweight – making them a practical movement to maintain throughout life. Being able to push yourself up from the floor is an important marker of strength and independence as you age.

They’re also easy to progress. Increase the reps, add weight or experiment with more challenging variations such as decline push-ups, Hindu push-ups or archer push-ups.

Pull-Ups

Last, but by no means least, Sutherland includes pull-ups as an essential part of his routine.

‘Pull-ups strengthen my back and arms,’ he says in the video. ‘In my opinion, they are the best bodyweight exercise for building a strong back.’

In the caption, he adds: ‘[I do] pull-ups to build my back, arms and grip while maintaining my ability to reach and move overhead.’

Research suggests that grip strength is a strong predictor of overall health and longevity. Pull-ups challenge your grip while also training your lats, biceps and core, making them one of the most efficient upper-body exercises you can do.

If there’s one thing Kori Sampson knows, it’s how to optimise your body composition for performance. To tap into his knowledge as an elite athlete and coach, we asked him to create a 4-week plan to help you move faster, recover quicker and keep pushing when the fatigue sets in – all while improving your muscle-to-fat ratio.

Ready to build muscle, burn fat and come out the other side looking, feeling and performing better? Click here to get 14 days of free access to the plan via the Men’s Health app.

Lauren Geall is deputy site editor for Women’s Health UK and Men’s Health UK. She graduated from Exeter University with a BA in English Literature before studying an MA in Magazine Journalism at City, University London. She’s been writing about health, fitness and wellbeing for over five years, with a total of seven years in digital journalism. Prior to her current role, she worked at Stylist as the acting health and fitness editor. As well as being a keen runner, Lauren is passionate about women’s sport and can often be found cheering on Arsenal Women at the Emirates or keeping tabs on the Red Roses’ latest win.