Unless you're one of the lucky few to hit it big in the genetic lottery, staying fit isn’t easy, especially when you hit 40 and beyond. Try these workouts and save your age.

Cheat Your Age In Your 40's

Fate Says: Your Muscles Start to Shrink
After 45, most women who don't lift weights start losing a significant amount of muscle, most of it from the lower body. Less junk in the trunk may sound like a good thing, but decreased muscle mass leads to a slower metabolism. The fast-twitch muscle fibers – the stringy part of your muscles responsible for generating power –are at the highest risk. They allow you to, say, and jump to snag a shirt from the top shelf of your closet or sprint to your 10 o'clock appointment.

Cheat Fate: Jump to Jive
Maintaining muscle power requires fast, explosive movements (think sprinting and jumping) – the kind of thing most of us stop doing once we hit high school. Keep your power levels high with this jump squat. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, arms hanging at your sides. Keeping your torso as upright as possible, quickly bend your knees and lower your hips back and down until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Then immediately jump straight off the floor as high as you can. Land as softly as possible, sinking back down into squat position – that's one rep. Repeat the jump. Do three to four sets of six reps, resting one minute in between sets.

Fate Says: Where's the Sandman?
Sleep studies show that women over 40 spend more sleepless nights (and not the naked kind) than 20-somethings. Experts aren't sure why exactly, but one thing is clear: less sleep = less energy = half-assed workout.

Cheat Fate: Don’t Hit Snooze
One cure for insomnia: Exercise before work. One study found that sedentary women who started exercising in the morning slept better than they had before. And according to public researchers in Seattle, women who boosted their fitness levels by 10 percent over a year slept better and were less likely to pop sleep meds than women who improved their fitness by only one percent or less.

Feeling too groggy to work out? That's because it takes the brain up to two hours to wake up. Make yourself a bowl of instant oatmeal with half a cup of fat-free milk before your morning workout. According to researchers people who ate one packet of instant oatmeal received a shot of glucose strong enough to jolt them awake.

Fate Says: Getting a Little Chunky
Cardio is a good way to protect your heart and burn calories, but you'll lose weight only if you're burning more calories than you're taking in (duh). Your metabolism is starting to put on the brakes as a result of dwindling muscle mass, so continue hitting the iron. That way you don't have to worry so much about curbing your dark chocolate habit.

Cheat Fate: Go to the Mat
"Yoga teaches you to go to the edge of discomfort in a non-reactive way," says Alan R. Kristal, Ph.D., a professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine. "It trains you to be mindful so that you're more likely to pass on dessert even when you want it." Okay, that sounds nuts. But in his studies Dr. Kristal found that women who practiced yoga for 10 years starting at age 45 gained one and a half kilograms more (if they were at a healthy weight) compared with those who didn't do yoga. Overweight women lost two kilograms over the 10 years. He recommends trading in one of your cardio days for a one-hour yoga class once a week.

Power Up

Each move has two parts and counts as one rep. Beginners, start with one to two reps (working up to four) of each compound exercise, without rest. Try to do two sets of the entire circuit, pausing two minutes between sets. Advance up to five sets. Start with 35 percent of the heaviest weight that you're able to lift for your weakest exercise (generally the dumbbell pullover).

Lunge and twist
Crescent Lunge and Row
Biceps warrior
Lateral Bend and Reach