Follow our beginner’s guide to building muscle without visiting the gym

The NHS advises that if you want to stay fit and healthy into old age, it’s not enough just to do cardio – you need to flex those muscles, too.

You can strengthen your muscles by lifting weights, using your own body weight or working with other forms of resistance, such as bands.

The government now recommends adults do strengthening exercises twice a week along with at least 70 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity, such as running, or 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity, such as brisk walking. Research also found that increasing your muscle power could even prolong your life.*

“We lose muscle and bone density from age 30,” says fitness expert . “But we can counter that with strength training.”

She explains that building muscles can help prevent osteoporosis, as stressing bones through exercise can increase density, and diabetes, as building muscles helps your body regulate blood sugar better. She adds that it can also prevent obesity, as “the more muscle we have, the more calories we burn”.

Julia recommends supplementing aerobic exercise (such as jogging) with other exercise such as yoga to keep flexible, plus the all-important strength and resistance training (workouts such as swimming can give you all three). “Don’t worry about getting huge muscles – that’s a misconception,” she says. The obvious way to gain strength is by weight training in a gym or with a trainer, but you can still strengthen your muscles safely, effectively and cheaply at home.