The thought of growing old and decrepit is appealing to no one. If this concerns you health and fitness training should be of the utmost importance to you. Exercise, in particular strength and cardiovascular training, is the only true fountain of youth. Many people joke that fitness is the poor man’s plastic surgery. As with many jokes, there is some truth in that statement.Muscles shrink (the technical term is atrophy) as we age. Muscles will become small, thin, and wiry as we age and the only method of reversing this process is strength training. Strength training gives your muscles that full, toned, and youthful look. A fitness routine aimed at developing strength can come in many forms; body weight exercises, traditional weight lifting, kettlebells, plyometrics, speed (sprint) training, or any combination thereof. The key thing is to work all the major muscle groups in your body; shoulders, chest, back, abdominals, and legs.For example, a very simple and very short strength fitness routine could be hill sprints and burpees, just two exercises. Find a hill near your house that is between 50 to 100 metres in length. Run up the hill as fast as you can. The hill itself forces you to use perfect sprinting form, which means you to use a full range of motion. You must pull your knees high, lean into the hill, and pump your arms high and fast if you want to run up a hill at top speed. Once you reach the top walk back down at a brisk pace but not so fast as to be careless and injure yourself. At the bottom of the hill do a set of 10 burpees. Now repeat, sprint up the hill as fast as you can, walk down at a brisk pace, then to 10 more burpees. Do this 5 times. It won’t take you 15 minutes to do but if you do this 4 times a week I can guarantee you will be strong.Being strong translates into looking good. Do you want the kind of butt and thighs that look incredible in a pair of jeans or in a bathing suit on the beach? If so you will only get that kind of look from strength training. If you want strong shoulders that taper into a thin, hard, waist you had better do some kind of muscle-building as part of your fitness exercise program. All the plastic surgery in the world can’t build a great butt and thighs or strong shoulders or a hard waist and that’s a fact!If you haven’t exercised in a while begin by walking up the hill and walking down. When you do the burpees do them in a slow and easy manner. Do this routine for 4 weeks. After that time start by jogging up the hill, walking back down, and start to speed up your burpees ever so slighting. Do this for 4 more weeks. After this time you should be ready to do this fitness routine at full speed.To stay looking and feeling young you also need to devote time to cardiovascular training. You can do moderate paced cardio training such as jogging, swimming, or bike riding. Or you can do short but intense cardio training such as sprints, intervals, or complexes. In fact, the simple routine mentioned above (Hill Sprints and Burpees) is also a great cardiovascular routine. The sprinting and the constant motion will get your heart rate really high and it will stay high for 45 minutes to an hour after you have finished you 15 minute fitness routine helping you burn fat even after you finish exercising. Cardio will help you burn fat to reveal that strong, sexy body you will build with strength training.Health and fitness training can be fun and with the proper fitness exercise program in combination with a healthy diet you can still look young at an older age.