Maintaining Muscle Mass- How To Combat Muscle Loss and Build Strength as You Age

If you find yourself saying you wish you could do what you used to, then action is key! When it comes to maintaining your physical fitness and strength as you age, it’s only going to get worse unless you address it.

Age related Muscle mass, deemed Sarcopenia, is something we will all face. The great news is that it IS able to be slowed and can even be reversible.

Muscle mass decreases approximately 3-8% per decade after the age of 30, and the decline is even higher after the age of 60 (Volpi, Nazemi and Fujita). Without active intervention, we can lose up to 30% of our muscle mass across a lifetime – that is massive!

With loss of mass comes loss of function, which can potentially bring on a snowball effect of related health problems and conditions, such as increased body fat, increased risk of injury, and loss of confidence. As we continue to age, these factors can lead to physical inactivity, potential risk of falls, and functional dependence and disability (Volpi, Nazemi and Fujita).

Along with these problems comes more sinister conditions such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and osteoporosis to name a few (Jaul and Barron).

As previously mentioned, age related muscle mass loss can be reversible, if you begin working on muscle conditioning and development. Through starting exercise based interventions such as resistance training, and work on building muscle mass and strength, you can counteract the muscle loss whilst simultaneously reducing the prevalence of those health complications previously mentioned (Keller and Engelhardt).

Alongside this comes other associated benefits of exercise, such as improved cognition, reduced prevalence of anxiety and depression, enhanced performance of work, recreational and sporting activities, and enhanced feelings of well-being (Kluwer).

Now, you’re probably thinking “Sure, this sounds great, but how do I start?”.

Don’t worry, we have you covered!

 Our in-depth process takes you through our 4 A’s, which have achieved amazing outcomes. This is how it works:

 -       Assess: We learn as much as possible about you, your exercise history, future aspirations so that we can create a fully bespoke training solution.

-       Apply: We involve you fully in the training process so that you understand exactly what we are doing and why.

-       Accelerate: We carefully adjust your programme to ensure maximum results and future progress.

-       Accomplish: We celebrate your accomplishments with regular review meetings.

Whether you’re starting your fitness journey or are an experienced gym goer who is after a more personalised approach to your training, our team of highly credentialled coaches are here to help you on your journey to a stronger you!

You can book in with Hugh Mason here.

• References

  Volpi, E., Nazemi, R. and Fujita, S., 2004. Muscle tissue changes with aging. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care, 7(4), pp.405-410.

  Keller, K. and Engelhardt, M., 2019. Strength and muscle mass loss with aging process. Age and strength loss. Muscle Ligaments and Tendons Journal, 03(04), p.346.

  Jaul, E. and Barron, J., 2017. Age-Related Diseases and Clinical and Public Health Implications for the 85 Years Old and Over Population. Frontiers in Public Health, 5.

  Kluwer, W., 2021. ACSM's guidelines for exercise testing and prescription. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer.