Comment in response to the Mirror article dated 8 June 2009

Source: Revealed; the bikini secrets of stars

There is no doubt that celebrity endorsement works and many people buy into the fitness and nutritional programmes because they aspire to be like a particular celebrity. In general terms if this is what gets someone motivated about their health and gets them doing something about it then it is has to be a good thing.  But many people will be disappointed if they think by copying these exercise programmes that they will get a celebrity body.

There are many commonalities amongst the exercise regimes set out in this article. They consist largely of cardiovascular exercise such as walking and swimming. The surprising problem is that, from my experience, I have not found that these forms of exercise are actually the best to help someone lose weight.

A/ Walking and swimming are all very well in theory, and all very well if you are a celebrity with a treadmill or swimming pool in your home. But in reality very few people have this. And very few people will consistently put aside the time to go to the gym and do this form of exercise. 

B/ It is body-weight and resistance exercise that stimulate your body's fat burning hormones and metabolism. Many people think exercises such as press-ups, planks, or squats are just for toning, but that couldn't be further from the truth. These 3 exercises will get much better results in much less time than walking or swimming.

So to conclude, by all means follow a celebrity's regime if that gets you exercising, but I would advise people to research what the experts and studies show will work best, not just what a celebrity says.

Expert: Rob Bowman