"If you've not exercised in years, do these four moves"—a trainer shares a low-impact routine to build strength and improve your fitness

Getting back into exercise can be difficult and if you haven't moved your body for a while, you might be feeling nervous about booking a gym class or heading out on a run. Try exercising from the comfort of your own home, which can be just as effective and enjoyable.

I discovered a workout created by Petra Genco on Instagram that's designed for people who haven't exercised in a long time.

According to personal trainer Pippa Sealy, it's a very good place to start: "This workout is good for beginners because it's low impact," Sealy tells me. "It will also raise your heart rate and help you get a good sweat on."

On top of this, it will also help you develop the strength to tackle exercises that commonly come up in workout classes. "It uses progressions for exercises like squats, so you can build up strength in your lower body," says Sealy.

How to do Petra Genco's low-impact workout

Genco advises that you do each exercise in this routine for 30 seconds and repeat the entire thing three to four times, taking rest when you need to. That means the whole workout should take less than 10 minutes.

You don't need any special fitness equipment to do this routine, just a chair or a couch that you'll use for some parts of the workout.

The benefits of low-impact workouts

This home strength workout counts as low-impact because at least one foot is always on the floor, which means it won't place too much pressure on joints like the knees, ankles and shoulders.

If you haven't exercised for a while, your joints might be sensitive to high-impact movements, like jumping and running, so the exercises in this routine will ease you back into movement.

Try completing this routine a few times a week and you should see improvements in your strength and fitness. Just make sure you speak to a health professional if you have any existing injuries before trying it.