Lee An­na Ma­haraj

Fa­thers of­ten share spe­cial bonds with their chil­dren. For 80-year-old Chanka Ram­rat­tan, that bond is a shared love for fit­ness and ex­er­cise with his 46-year-old son Nari.

The Rousil­lac res­i­dent re­called that he be­gan ex­er­cis­ing at the age of 14, lift­ing weights and tak­ing long walks, a pas­sion that re­mains with him to­day. Dur­ing his time work­ing as a clerk at Tex­a­co, he said he would walk from For­est Re­serve to his Rousil­lac home, a dis­tance of ap­prox­i­mate­ly 12 kilo­me­tres.

“I have done every marathon in Trinidad; you name a marathon, I could tell you. Mi­a­mi Marathon, To­ba­go Sea-to-Sea, which is the most dif­fi­cult marathon that I’ve ever done. I even have a tro­phy where I got the fastest speed walk­ing man, and I have all my medals,” he re­count­ed.

Chanka’s last marathon was a vir­tu­al one in 2021. Since then, his doc­tor has ad­vised him to slow down be­cause of his age. Now, he spends his time at the Health and Fit­ness Gym in Debe and South Oropouche about three times a week, walk­ing marathons of his own on the tread­mill.

“I do car­dio walk­ing for one hour, and I do weight train­ing for one hour. Then, I go in the sea and I swim and dive for one hour,” he not­ed.

Chanka firm­ly be­lieves reg­u­lar ex­er­cise has con­tributed to his longevi­ty and said he plans to keep go­ing.

“Ex­er­cise is very im­por­tant, and I like ex­er­cise. You go to Mi­a­mi, and you’ll see 90-year-olds and 100-year-olds in the gym, walk­ing, and even go­ing to marathons. That’s be­cause if you don’t ex­er­cise, you feel lethar­gic, you feel down. And you al­so have to read a lot. So, you ex­er­cise the brain, and you ex­er­cise the body,” Chanka ad­vised.

His son Nari be­lieves that per­se­ver­ance was one of the most im­por­tant lessons his fa­ther passed on to his chil­dren, along with a love of fit­ness and ex­er­cise.

“When you are look­ing at your dad, and your mom, and you are see­ing them ex­er­cis­ing and you are see­ing them fit, why would you not want to do the same thing? So, it was in­stilled in all of us, my­self and my two sib­lings. That ex­er­cis­ing be­came a rou­tine. My big­ger sis­ter, she would run, and my small­er sis­ter would do car­dio,” Nari ex­plained.

The en­gi­neer and busi­ness­man re­called start­ing to ex­er­cise and lift weights with his fa­ther and un­cle from a young age, cred­it­ing the ex­pe­ri­ence with shap­ing the dis­ci­pline and fit­ness mind­set he still fol­lows to­day.

How­ev­er, in 2016, he faced a big ob­sta­cle af­ter he hit his head dur­ing a div­ing ac­ci­dent, dam­ag­ing his C6 and C7 ver­te­brae and spinal cord.

“I was 37 at the time when I got in­to the ac­ci­dent. I lost all feel­ing in my body. The per­son that you see in front of you now is not the per­son I was three years ago. I ac­tu­al­ly couldn’t move at all; I could on­ly move my toe. It took a lot of hard work and will, to come out of that sit­u­a­tion. Even­tu­al­ly, I start­ed to trans­fer from my wheel­chair to a bed, to a car. I even built a ma­chine for me to stand up with a har­ness, and it pulls me up in the air so I can stand up straight. So, I used that for two years to get my body back to where it is,” Nari ex­plained.

Nari, who is cur­rent­ly a quad­ri­pleg­ic, said he was on­ly able to make progress through per­sis­tence and sup­port from his loved ones. Chanka ad­mit­ted that pe­ri­od was one of the most dif­fi­cult ex­pe­ri­ences of his life as a par­ent.

“I wouldn’t like to ex­plain that, that is a dif­fer­ent thing al­to­geth­er. He was in Mount Hope for six months, we had to go every day. It was a re­al try­ing thing, but you know, he is on the way to re­cov­ery. His moth­er wants to see every­thing good for him. For me, she will treat me sec­ond class and she will treat them first class, and she is right. Be­cause the ones that are able to walk, you give them less at­ten­tion be­cause they are tend­ing to them­selves. You have to give more at­ten­tion to the one that needs at­ten­tion,” he ac­knowl­edged.

But their bond through ex­er­cis­ing didn’t change. Dur­ing COVID-19, Nari said his fa­ther re­turned to weightlift­ing un­der his son’s guid­ance.

“When my dad was trapped in the house and he couldn’t go any­where, he was very mis­er­able. So, we had a sched­ule where he and I would use the weights that I have at home, and I would tell him what to do. He ac­tu­al­ly got a six-pack dur­ing COVID. So, we stayed home and ex­er­cised with my wife and all too. Af­ter, I re­alised now I could start back to go to gym,” Nari re­flect­ed.

Chanka said his son’s de­ter­mi­na­tion con­tin­ues to in­spire him.

“When you see some­body who is a bit in­ca­pac­i­tat­ed and they’re ex­er­cis­ing, they give you in­spi­ra­tion. Like if that man could do that, I could do that too. I wish Nari all the best. He is ad­her­ing to all his ex­er­cis­es, and he has a will that you won’t get in your next life. It’s prob­a­bly my genes passed on to him,” Chanka shared.

Nari said none of that would have been pos­si­ble with­out his fa­ther’s in­flu­ence.

“Dad, I just want to tell you, thank you very much for be­ing in our lives. You give us the en­cour­age­ment to go day to day, and just keep be­ing who you are, be­cause you have a strong will, strong mind, and that is what keeps us go­ing every day,” he said.

At 81, Angela Rippon is one of the UK’s most energetic and active broadcasters. A long-time advocate for movement, the former ballet dancer has often credited simple, consistent habits with helping her stay strong, mobile and independent as she gets older. And among her daily rituals is one surprisingly simple exercise she swears by: pliés.

‘I’ll do 20 pliés in the morning, because that’s really good for your balance, your knees, your posture, your core strength, for everything,’ she told Good Housekeeping. ‘Ballet is a wonderful thing for keeping your legs in good shape. It builds the right muscles in your calves and thigh. I go to class whenever I can. I’m a great advocate for dance being the best form of exercise for your mind and your body.’

Pliés are an easy move that require no equipment and Rippon’s 20 reps take less than a minute to do, yet experts agree that they can offer a host of benefits, from improving balance and posture to building lower-body strength and supporting healthy joints. As Women’s Health Fashion Editor and dance instructor Isabelle Knevett says, ‘Plies strengthen the legs, glutes and inner thighs simultaneously. They also require core activation in order to maintain an upright posture, which helps train your balance and stability.’

Research backs Rippon’s morning habit, too. A 2024 study found that a 10-week classical ballet programme improved lower-body strength and physical function in women over 50, suggesting ballet-inspired movements may help support mobility and independence as we age.

And Angela has one more non-negotiable within her morning routine: stretching. ‘I do it every day without fail. Even if I’m on a really tight schedule and in a very small hotel room. Think about a cat. A cat might sleep for five hours, but when they get up, they stretch absolutely everything. I feel that after I’ve been sleeping, that’s what I need to do to get everything moving again.’

As for its benefits for longevity, a recent study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports found that greater flexibility was associated with a lower risk of early death, while other research found that a 10-minute at-home stretching routine can counteract significant decreases in strength, flexibility and jumping performance caused by low physical activity levels. Consider us influenced.

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.

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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!

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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.   

You probably already train hard in the gym, making sure you hit every muscle group with enough volume consistently. But building the muscles necessary for an aesthetic physique can take a more tailored approach.

According to coach Alain Gonzalez, the answer may not be training harder, but training smarter, especially for men over 40. In a recent video, Gonzalez broke down what he calls the ‘Greek God method’ – a training approach designed to build what’s often known as an X-frame physique. That means broad shoulders, a tapered waist and wide legs.

‘It’s the shape people are picturing when they think of the Greek god physique,’ says Gonzalez. ‘And the best part is you don’t have to build a ton of muscle to have it. You just need to know which muscles create it and how to build them.’

The Greek God Method focuses on developing the muscles that have the biggest visual impact. According to Gonzalez, many men assume a balanced training plan will naturally focus on these muscles, but that’s not always true. Functional training and standard splits certainly have their place, but Gonzalez’s method is more aesthetics-focused.

‘Most guys believe that if they just keep training hard, follow a proven split and stay disciplined, they’ll eventually develop a head-turning physique,’ he says. ‘But here’s the truth. Balanced training will never build the X-frame.’

The method prioritises three key areas: the lats, the outer quads and the mid delts. ‘We’re not talking about the biggest muscles in your body or the ones that move the most weight,’ says Gonzalez. ‘We’re talking about the ones that have the biggest visual impact on your physique because those are two very different things.’

For men over 40, Gonzalez says the method works because recovery is not unlimited. ‘Your body has a limited capacity to recover from and adapt to training stress,’ he says. ‘And after 40, that capacity is even lower.’

By reducing non-priority work and filler exercises, and focusing on the lats, outer quads and mid delts, the method directs more effort towards the muscles that change how your physique looks. ‘The Greek God method changes that by concentrating your effort where it actually shows,’ he says.

To try the Greek God method, you don’t need to overhaul your entire training plan. The aim is to prioritise the muscles that create the biggest visual change, while keeping the rest of your body ticking over.

You can start by making these three areas your focus and including some of the suggested exercises:

Lats: pull-ups or lat pulldowns

Outer quads: leg extensions or quad-dominant lower-body work

Mid delts: dumbbell lateral raises, cable lateral raises or cable Y-raises

For each of these priority muscles, aim for 8-12 hard sets per week, split across at least two sessions. Gonzalez recommends training them before fatigue builds and performance drops. ‘Put them at the beginning of your workout when your energy is high,’ he says.

The sets should be challenging. Take each one to, or close to, failure, using a weight you can control properly. For most people, Gonzalez recommends staying in the 8–12 rep range, rather than including very high-rep burnout sets that may add more fatigue than benefit. ‘Stay in the 8–12 rep range where you’re recruiting those high-threshold motor units earlier in the set and the recovery costs are still low,’ he says.

Everything else should be reduced to maintenance volume. That means giving non-priority muscles around 2–3 sets per week, rather than trying to grow every muscle group at once. ‘That’s just enough to maintain what you’ve built while freeing up enough resources to grow your priority muscles more effectively,’ says Gonzalez.

You can apply this to most training splits. For example, if you follow a push-pull-legs split, train side delts and lats first on push and pull days, then start leg day with quad-focused work. If you follow an upper/lower split, train delts and lats first on upper days, and begin lower-body days with quad-dominant exercises.

Follow the method consistently for 12 weeks, keeping the focus on quality sets, progressive overload, adequate nutrition and recovery, and you should start to see changes in your physique that are worth the effort.

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.