It’s important to stay fit as we get older. Muscles waste away from lack of use and as we hit middle age – and beyond – it gets harder to build those muscles back up. The upshot? Exercise can prevent you from compromising your health (and your figure), and the good news is that you can do it all from the comfort of your living room.

In the article to follow, we’re going to talk you through six exercises you can perform in twenty minutes flat.

Standing marches
Great for: hip strength

A standing march is a low impact exercise that builds hip strength and helps you guard against future injury.

Put yourself in front of a kitchen counter. Then, standing in a stationary position, lift your left knee as high as possible. Lower it and lift your right knee next – and so on and so forth. Repeat 20-30 times.

Chair squats
Great for: lower body strength

With a chair at your rear, stand wider than shoulder width apart with your back straight and your toes pointing outwards.

Slowly lower yourself down until you gently reach the chair. A split second later, explode back into a standing position in one smooth motion.

Keep your arms outstretched and your back straight throughout.

If you find the exercise tricky, try adding some pillows to the chair to make it less intense; then, as you get more accustomed to the motion, slowly increase the difficulty of the maneuver by taking those pillows away.

A chair squat will activate your glutes and improve lower body strength.

Single foot stand
Great for: balance

This one’s pretty straightforward, but simplicity doesn’t make the single foot stand any less effective.

All you’re going to do is stand on one leg at a time, alternating feet every minute.

It’s often a good idea to have something heavy in front of you, lest you begin to topple. That heavy object will be there to grab if you feel you’re going to fall.

You’ll improve core stability and guard against balance issues that might turn up later in life.

Dumbbell curl
Great for: toning arms

Ah, the old dumbbell curl. It’s one of the oldest exercises in existence – and one of the most effective too.

Choose a pair of weights to match your strength (say, 8lbs each) and lower them to your side.

One at a time, lift the weight towards your shoulder, stopping when you can’t go any further. Lower your arm and repeat using the opposing weight.

If you don’t want to use dumbbells, you can also use resistance bands, which are no less effective and much more portable.

Dumbbell lunge
Great for: building core strength

With a dumbbell in either hand, take an exaggerated step forwards and lower yourself to the ground. Your lead leg will be bent and your trailing knee will be inches from the ground.

Bring yourself back to a standing position (using only your core and your legs) before lunging forwards with the other leg.

Repeat these motions to build core strength.