Sarcopenia, also known as age-related muscle loss, is the biggest health problem among older adults. According to studies compiled by the Alliance for Aging Research, the prevalence of sarcopenia is widespread among adults over 60 years of age.1
- 11% of men and 9% of women living in the community
- 23% of hospitalized men and 24% of women
- 51% of men and 31% of women in nursing homes
When your body begins to lose muscle mass, your quality of life drops dramatically. For example, it affects your ability to perform simple tasks such as walking upstairs or standing up from a chair.2
If this happens, how can you prevent muscle loss as you age? The most practical approach is resistance training. In fact, it is actually a recommended “first-line treatment to counter the detrimental consequences of sarcopenia in the elderly.”3
How Resistance Training Builds Bigger Muscles
Resistance training is defined as a form of exercise that uses weights, such as dumbbells or barbells, to target muscles. Additionally, if you don’t have weights nearby, you can also use other devices such as resistance bands. But what if you don’t currently have access to these tools? Don’t worry, you can also use your own body weight to build muscle.4
How does resistance build muscle? When you use your muscles against your body weight, you intentionally cause microscopic damage to your muscles. After training, your body repairs affected muscles and makes them stronger.5
If you’re just starting out in weightlifting, here’s an easy-to-follow guide from Yahoo! Lifestyle — Choose a weight that you can comfortably lift between 8 and 12 times (also known as repetitions) for a single set. Then repeat the same exercise two more times, resting in between.6
According to personal trainer Lance Johnson, the reason to exercise with comfortable weights is to prevent injuries. He also recommends consulting with a professional trainer for help with proper weightlifting form and intensity.7
Resistance Training Provides Multi-System Benefits
Getting into the habit of lifting weights will be very beneficial to your health. In an interview with Yahoo!, geriatric exercise scientist Mercedes Fernandez explains that the body needs strong muscles because they “create stability within the skeletal system and maintain bone density.”8
“Our bones are connected by tendons, ligaments and muscles.” Fernández explains. “As muscles weaken, the risk for the stability of the skeletal system increases. As the musculature that protects joints and facilitates movement decreases, the likelihood of injury and immobility increases.”
There is plenty of research to support Fernandez’s claims. For example, one study9 Sarcopenia has been shown to affect balance and increase the risk of fractures. To counteract muscle loss, researchers recommend a resistance training program that includes both upper and lower body muscle groups.
In another study10 The study, a meta-analysis of 14 other papers, found that resistance training improved indicators such as grip strength and muscle mass after resistance training.
Another important point that Fernandez mentioned earlier is the positive effect resistance training has on bone mineral density. It is estimated that 10 million Americans over the age of 50 currently suffer from osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a skeletal disease that reduces bone strength, increasing the risk of fractures.11 So not only will strength training make your muscles stronger, but your bones may also reap similar benefits, according to a study published in Sports Medicine.12
The benefits of strength training go beyond increasing muscle mass and bone density. A study published in Frontiers in Sports and Active Living highlighted:
“Although cardiovascular exercise (low-intensity or intermittent training) has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance through regulation of glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4), compelling evidence highlights how resistance training also provides benefits for glycemic control.
Finally, strength training also has anti-inflammatory effects due to its exclusive effect on mechanical growth factor (MGF) and downregulation of the tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) pathway. “This may be related to improved action of insulin and glycemic control.”
Consider blood flow restriction training to promote muscle growth
If you want to take your weightlifting to a new level, try incorporating blood flow restriction (BFR) training into your exercise regimen. I believe this is the greatest innovation in athletic training of the last century. Also known as KAATSU in Japan, it was developed by Dr. Yoshiaki Sato in 1966.
BFR training is basically a method in which a band partially disrupts blood flow during exercise, causing intermittent hypoxia. This process produces anti-inflammatory myokines, which are muscle versions of cytokines, resulting in beneficial hormonal processes.
KAATSU is a useful tool for increasing muscle mass to combat sarcopenia. This increases blood supply to satellite stem cells, which promotes muscle protein synthesis and provides the metabolic support needed to grow muscles.
Moreover, older people will no longer be intimidated by lifting heavy weights. At KAATSU, you can get the same benefits by lifting very light weights or no weights at all. In fact, you can even use it during your day job. As explained in an interview with Steven Munatones, a KAATSU practitioner who mentored under Sato:
“The KAATSU cycle is basically a very clever biohack that allows your muscles to work and your vascular tissue to become more elastic. You won’t feel the pain of lifting a heavy object, but your vascular tissue and muscle fibers will be exercised as if you were exercising. Effectively, more You can do this for a long time.
Walking to the beach with a KAATSU band on your leg, walking your dog, walking around the neighborhood, standing up, cleaning your home windows, folding clothes, sending an email – it’s all done with KAATSU. You can do it with . Wear the KAATSU band on your arm or leg. You are reaping the benefits of exercise.
Beta endorphins are being produced. Doing simple tasks creates hormones and metabolites. This is how we help older adults in Japan, the United States, and around the world understand that sarcopenia can be stopped, but you have to exercise. You don’t have to run a 10K or go to Gold’s Gym. Just put on your KAATSU band and live your life.”
The best place for strength training
In an interview with cardiologist James O’Keefe, he said his research found that vigorous exercise is counterproductive. This is especially true when you exercise a lot. In fact, I radically changed my exercise program after he published the data. In particular, people who train at high intensity for a total of 4 to 7 hours begin to lose the health benefits that exercise provides. According to O’Keefe, more is not necessarily better when it comes to weight lifting.
“I’ve always loved strength training. But again, the devil is in the detail when it comes to dosage. If you look at people who strength train, their all-cause mortality rate is 19 percent lower. One hour of moderate exercise per day This reduces it by 45%.
When I strength train, I go to the gym and work out for 20 to 40 minutes… I try to use a weight that I can do 10 repetitions of. …it will take a few days to recover. “Doing it twice or at most three times a week seems to be the best way to live longer.”
The graph above is from O’Keefe’s meta-analysis,13 Shows a J-shaped dose-response for strength training activation and all-cause mortality. As you can see, the benefits are maximized at about 40 to 60 minutes per week. You can’t get anything beyond that.
After a total of 130 to 140 minutes of strength training per week, the longevity benefits of exercise are reduced to the same as not exercising at all. Simply put, if you train for 3 to 4 hours a week, your long-term survival rate is actually worse than that of people who don’t strength train at all.
Again, even those who engage in excessively intense and strenuous exercise can still enjoy a better life than those who lead a sedentary lifestyle. But for some reason (not sure yet), excessive strength training makes you worse than a sedentary lifestyle.
The lesson here is to keep your strength training to 40 minutes once a week, twice a week on non-consecutive days. Moreover, it is just an add-on to your exercise regimen. Don’t center your entire workout session around this exercise. Moderate exercise, such as walking, provides even greater benefits.
Protein intake goes hand in hand with resistance training
Resistance training will certainly help you build muscle mass, but don’t forget the other side of the equation: dietary protein, especially animal protein. This macronutrient is important for maintaining muscle mass and building bigger muscles when training.
Mass construction doesn’t just help make everyday activities easier. The more muscle you have, the better your chances of surviving diseases, including cancer. As noted in a 2020 study:14 Cachexia (loss of muscle mass) accounts for 20% of all cancer deaths. One reason is that muscles also serve as stores of amino acids, which are important during times of illness.
Muscles also help regulate your metabolism.15 As noted in the study, it is essential for glucose processing.16 Published in Journal of Biological Chemistry. Glucose processing is an important factor in managing insulin sensitivity.
According to one study17 Higher levels of estimated glucose disposal rate (eGDR) are protective against heart failure (HF), according to a study published in the European Heart Journal. We examined data from 1,685 people with type 2 diabetes and found that:
“Higher levels of eGDR are strongly associated with a lower risk of developing heart failure in patients with type 2 diabetes, suggesting that insulin resistance may play an important role in the development of heart failure. This simple, novel biomarker may help determine the risk of developing heart failure. This could be explored in patients with type 2 diabetes to stratify risk.”
The ideal protein intake for most adults is 15% of daily calories. Follow this guide to help you calculate specific amounts. Most adults need about 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of ideal body weight. This is your goal weight, not your current weight.
For example, if your goal weight is 135 pounds (61.23 kg), multiply 61.23 by 0.8. This brings your daily protein requirement to approximately 49 grams.
For most normal-weight adults, the minimum intake needed to stimulate muscle protein synthesis is 30 g per meal. Children typically need 5 to 10 grams of protein per meal. To achieve a healthy amino acid ratio, one-third of the total protein (about 16 grams in the example given) should be collagen.
