At last the key to eternal youth - go to the gym!

According to scientists the secret of eternal youth is not to be found in a bottle of pills or some kind of potion; it is they say as simple as working out at the gym on a regular basis.

The Canadian researchers say they have found that seniors who regularly use weights have almost as much energy as people less than half their age.

Apparently as little as six months of gentle weight training will turn back one of the body's molecular clocks and rejuvenate ageing muscles to the extent that they are almost as powerful as those found in someone much younger.

Dr. Simon Melov says the research gives credibility to the benefit of exercise, not only as a means of improving health but of reversing the aging process itself.

Dr. Melov, a Buck Institute faculty member at McMaster University Medical Center in Hamilton, Ontario, is an expert on how ageing affects the body.

Along with Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky, he conducted a study examining how exercise affected the muscles of a group of pensioners.