Fitness
80-year-old fitness icon Joan MacDonald reveals her simple exercise for a stronger, more stable core
Joan MacDonald didn’t enter a gym until she was 70. Really. Since then, the 80-year-old has transformed her health by losing three stone and building significant muscle, and now coaches other women through her training platform, Train With Joan, which she launched to help others boost their fitness at any age.
The premise of her app is simple: minimal-equipment workouts built around no-fuss, effective exercises that can be done anywhere. One ‘powerful core and stability exercise’ she swears by is alternating bodyweight clock taps. ‘This movement helps strengthen the muscles that keep you stable, balanced and moving well as you age,’ Joan explains.
Bodyweight clock taps benefits
Think they look too simple? That’s the point. Joan is adamant that ‘You don’t need complicated workouts to start getting stronger. Sometimes the most effective movements are the simple ones you do consistently.’
According to Joan, regularly performing bodyweight clock taps help:
- ‘Strengthen your core which supports your spine and reduces strain on your lower back.
- ‘Improve balance and coordination, helping you stay steady on your feet.
- ‘Increase hip stability, which supports your knees and joints.
- ‘Build functional strength for everyday movements like stepping, turning and reaching.
- ‘Help reduce fall risk by improving control and body awareness’
How to do bodyweight clock taps
Find a demo from Joan above, along with instructions for how to do them with proper form below.
- Stand on one leg with a slight bend in your supporting knee and brace your core.
- Keeping your hips level, reach your free foot forward to lightly tap the floor in front of you (12 o’clock), then return to the centre.
- Continue tapping to different “clock” positions—such as 3, 6 and 9 o’clock—maintaining your balance and control throughout.
- Complete all reps on one leg before switching sides.
Form tip: Move slowly and focus on staying stable. The goal is controlled movement, not how far you can reach.
How many reps and sets to do
Joan shares her advice, according to your fitness level.
- Beginners: ‘3 taps per leg x 8-10 reps’
- Intermediate: ‘3 taps per leg x 10-12 reps’
- Advanced: ‘3 taps per leg x 12-15 reps’
One of our most frequently asked questions here at Women’s Health? How to build muscle and burn fat at the same time. So, we asked superstar trainer Oyinda Okunowo exactly how to do it. In this 4-week plan – created exclusively for Women’s Health COLLECTIVE members – you’ll get the workouts and nutrition guidance needed to help you on your way to better body composition. Tap the link below to unlock 14 days of free access to Oyinda’s plan and start training today.
Get the plan
As Women’s Health UK’s fitness director and a qualified Pilates and yoga instructor, Bridie Wilkins has been passionately reporting on exercise, health and nutrition since the start of her decade-long career in journalism.
After earning a first-class degree in journalism and NCTJ accreditation, she secured her first role at Look Magazine, where she launched the magazine’s health and fitness column, Look Fit, before going on to become Health and Fitness writer at HELLO!
Since, she has written for Stylist, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Elle, The Metro, Runner’s World and Red. Today, she oversees all fitness content across Women’s Health online and in print, spearheading leading cross-platform franchises, such as ‘Fit At Any Age’, which showcases the women proving that age is no barrier to exercise.
She has also represented the brand on BBC Radio London, plus various podcasts and Substacks – all with the aim to encourage more women to exercise and show them how. Outside of work, find her trying the latest Pilates studio, testing her VO2 max for fun (TY, Oura), or posting workouts on Instagram.