Can YOU perform the six vital exercises that predict you'll live a longer-than-average life? Top expert reveals intriguing science behind the surprisingly difficult tests

It's become the latest obsession of billionaires and A-listers from Jeff Bezos to Kim Kardashian. Longevity - or the pursuit of a longer, healthier life - is now the centre of a multi-hundred-billion-pound global industry. So it's no surprise that, from biomarker blood tests to smart watches measuring your VO2 Max, there are a slew of expensive ways to assess your longevity.But you don't need to splash the cash to figure out how well you're ageing, say experts. Instead, there are plenty of simple tests you can do from home - even while watching TV - from standing on one leg, to getting up off the floor with no hands.These ordinary movements draw on the strength, flexibility and balance that help keep us independent as we grow older, says longevity expert Leslie Kenny, co-founder of the Oxford Longevity Project.Poorer performance in these exercises, meanwhile, has been linked to a greater risk of dying early, studies have shown. So read on for our expert-led guide to the best exercises for assessing your longevity, what each involves and what your performance really says about your health.You don't need to splash the cash to figure out how well you're ageing, say expertsGet down to the floor - and back up with no handsWhat it tests: strength, flexibility, balance and coordination.Being able to lower yourself to the floor and stand again requires several parts of the body to work together - and is a skill obviously needed for getting upright when there is no chair to push against.According to Ms Kenny, getting up from the ground without using your hands and knees is a very easy test for longevity. A study of 4,282 adults aged 46 to 75, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology in 2025, rated participants out of ten for their ability to sit down and stand up from the floor. Five points were given for sitting down and five for standing up, with a point detracted for using a hand or knee to help, and half a point taken for a wobble. 'Those who score eight or above are considered to be healthy, but lower scores have been shown to predict cardiorespiratory illness in middle-aged and older people,' says Ms Kenny. 'Those scoring zero to four points had six times the risk of death from cardiac illness compared with those who scored ten.'Try the test yourself and measure your score, she advises. Measure your gripWhat it tests: hand and forearm strength, with clues to wider muscular health. Grip strength is another, well-studied measure of lasting health and longevityGrip strength is another, well-studied measure of lasting health and longevity. Hand strength closely correlates with the strength of other muscle groups throughout the body, research shows - with weak grip often a sign of overall weakness. Squeezing hard also requires efficient nerve signal transmission from the brain down to peripheral muscle fibers. As a result, weaker grip strength is strongly linked to cognitive decline and a higher risk of dementia. Grip strength can be measured with a grip-strength gauge, also called a dynamometer, which are often available at GP surgeries, or can be purchased online for around £30.To use it, simply squeeze the device with your dominant hand, to record the force you produce.Average grip strength differs by age and gender, research shows. Women aged 45-59 will have an average grip strength between 28.8kg and 25.1kg, while men in the same age group will have an average grip strength between 42.8kg and 40.7kg. The average grip strength of women aged 60-79, meanwhile, falls to just 23.6kg-19.6kg; dropping for men to 38.4kg-32.7kg.Each five-kilogram reduction in grip strength is associated with a 16 per cent higher adjusted risk of death from any cause, found one large international study.If you don't have a dynamometer, you can also test your grip strength by hanging from a bar for a minute, says Ms Kenny.This test demands sustained grip, rather than the brief maximal squeeze measured by a dynamometer, so body weight and shoulder health make a considerable difference, too.Hold a deep squatWhat it tests: hip and ankle mobility and balance. An easy way of testing your leg muscles while doing something like brushing your teeth is to lower into a deep squat and remain there for two minutes'Our leg muscles are the biggest muscles in the body, and we know that muscle is positively correlated with longevity,' says Ms Kenny.'It's a kind of proxy for how much muscle you have overall.'An easy way of testing your leg muscles while doing something like brushing your teeth is to lower into a deep squat and remain there for two minutes.'Being able to hold that position demonstrates that you have enough reserve in your leg muscles to do it,' Kenny adds.'I often do squats, and I make my whole team do 10 squats at the one-hour mark, sometimes at the 30-minute mark. It's the same as doing a two-to three-minute walk.'If you find the position difficult, she advises, practice it in small bursts. Overtime, build up to longer periods of sustained squatting, and see how low you can get to the floor. Reach your fists towards the floorWhat it tests: aspects of flexibility through the hips, hamstrings and back.In this challenge, try to bend forwards from standing and see whether your fists can reach the floor. Bend slowly and stop at a comfortable limit, says Ms Kenny, without bouncing or forcing the stretch.Having the flexibility to touch the floor - or at least get close - will help with the ability to balance and steady yourself in a fall, research shows.'My colleague Muir Gray has written multiple books on suppleness and flexibility,' says Ms Kenny.'Being supple is important because, if you have a fall, you need to be able to catch yourself. If you're really stiff and fall flat on your back, that's obviously not good.'If you have some suppleness and flexibility, you're much more likely to be able to catch yourself and correct that fall to some extent, so you break the fall more easily.'All of these things are connected. Strength, suppleness and skill all have a role in helping you correct yourself if you take a wrong step, or a step that's deeper than you expected. It's that ability to make a correction in real time, in a split second.'Stand on one legWhat it tests: balance and control while supporting your weight on one side. A 2022 study of 1,702 adults aged 51 to 75, found that being unable to complete a ten-second one-legged stance was associated with an 84 per cent higher risk of death in the following seven yearsStand beside a stable support, keep your eyes open and lift one foot. Record how long you can hold the position safely, then try the other side. Use the support immediately if you need it.The longer you can hold the position, the better, says Ms Kenny, who recommends standing on each leg for 20 to 30 seconds, two to three times a day, near a stable support, as a good starting point.After that, progress to 45 to 60 seconds.'When you do the longer ones, you can even practise moving the other leg up and down, doing gentle movements while balancing,' she adds.'There's evidence that practising balance exercises can improve stability and help prevent falls.'A 2022 study of 1,702 adults aged 51 to 75, found that being unable to complete a ten-second one-legged stance was associated with an 84 per cent higher risk of death in the following seven years.'It's to do with balance,' Kenny explains. 'When we're walking, we're on one leg and then the other for much of the time. If you step on something awkwardly, you need to regain your balance in a split second so you don't fall.'One-legged balance is about strengthening each leg so that, if you encounter a dip or a bump, you have the core strength and leg strength to balance the whole structure of the body.'Try a downward dogWhat it tests: a combination of mobility, upper-body loading and trunk control. 'Practices like yoga help us emulate some of those falling motions, so we develop muscle memory,' says Ms Kenny'Practices like yoga help us emulate some of those falling motions, so we develop muscle memory,' says Ms Kenny.'The body automatically knows what to do to right itself and regain balance.'For beginners, Kenny recommends starting with the downward dog, a familiar yoga position which forms an inverted V, with your hands and feet on the floor, while your hips are lifted.Knees can remain bent and heels do not have to touch the ground.'A beginner should ideally hold it for 15 to 30 seconds, while an experienced practitioner can do 60 to 120 seconds,' she adds. 'A regular practitioner would be half a minute to one minute.'Kenny says this yoga position is a way of practising control in an unfamiliar position, with the head lowered and the body supported differently from standing.'The most interesting finding about downward dog is that it isn't simply a stretch,' she says. 'It activates muscles involved in stabilising the spine and pelvis.'A trial led by researchers at the University of Miami studied 30 yoga practitioners, measuring electrical activity in their muscles while they performed 11 different positions. They found that downward dog produced meaningful activation of the external oblique abdominal muscles, which contribute to trunk stability and spinal control.The action could even help with lower back pain, said researchers, as well as declining fitness levels more generally.