Lifting weights isn’t just for muscle-bound bodybuilders, it’s for everyone. Don’t believe us? Just ask Chris Hemsworth’s long-time trainer Luke Zocchi.
He recently shared a four-move workout “designed for longevity”, with four muscle-building, cardio-boosting moves to help you improve your all-round fitness and live a long, happy, healthy life.
You can do the workout with a pair of kettlebells, or a couple of dumbbells if you don’t have any. If you do fancy adding some kettlebells to your home gym set-up then take a look at our tried and tested roundup of the best kettlebells.
How to do Luke Zocchi’s longevity workout
Zocchi, a trainer for Hemsworth’s fitness app Centr, kicks off the routine with a simple warm up to help prime your body. After working through this, you’ll do four different exercises (farmer carries, goblet squats, Romanian deadlifts and bear crawls) in straight sets with 60 seconds of rest in between. The whole workout should take you a little over 30 minutes.
Need a little guidance on what dumbbell weight you should use? We recommend going for something that challenges you, but remember that you’ll be repeating the movements plenty of times. Make sure your weight isn’t so heavy that you can’t properly complete those final repetitions.
Benefits of this workout
Functional strength training workouts like this one are excellent for building strength and muscle, as well as boosting your mobility and bolstering your bone density.
This not only allows you to move and carry out everyday tasks with greater ease, but also leaves you less susceptible to injury or chronic diseases like osteoporosis as you grow older.
And the plus points of strength training don’t end there, as Zocchi explains in the video: “Farmer’s walks… are great for improving grip strength, posture and burning fat, while goblet squats are so good for improving joint health, building muscle and improving our balance as we age.
“Deadlifts are important for increasing bone density, strengthening your lower body and also stabilizing your core. And bear crawls are a great low-impact exercise for really working on your VO2 max [the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use during exercise].”
Twin all of this with a healthy diet and you’re on track to create a fit and functional body, which will help you stay active as you get older.
And as a dancing Zocchi concludes: “If you do these workouts often, you’ll be as happy as me.”
