Michael explores the best way to help you look younger as well as live longer and healthier – revealing how strength training can benefit your waistline, preserve muscle fibres and increase healthy lifespan.

Pumping up your muscles is one of the best ways to protect from the ravages of time and injury. In this episode, Michael speaks to Professor Abigail Mackey from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, to find out how resistance training can strengthen the connection between your brain and muscles, and keep them looking younger at the cellular level. And it’s not just your muscles that benefit, maintaining your muscle mass can boost your brain function, improve sleep, and significantly reduce your risk of diabetes. It may even be better at reducing belly fat than cardio! Champion weight-lifter Shirley Webb reveals how lifting weights transformed her life and mobility even though she only started pumping irons in her mid-70s. Producer: Catherine Wyler Assistant Producer: Gulnar Mimaroglu Executive Producer: Zoe Heron A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds / BBC Radio 4