Keeping Muscle as We Age

Visit Wall Street Journal

Laura Landro of the Wall Street Journal wrote a fantastic article this month on a crisis facing our baby boomer population.  In "A Push to Maintain Muscles"(offline title), she listed the scientific data that shows just how quickly our muscle mass decreases after our early 40's and the ramifications of losing all that lean mass.  She noted that Sarcopenia, the name for this horrifying affliction, is an inevitability and that there were no drugs on the market that could help (though the Pharmaceutical companies are working toward a pill solution).  So what is a health conscious midlifer to do?

The author gave a three point plan to prevent  muscle loss using changes to diet and exercise.  Surprise!  So if you want to put off the date that you will have to use a cane or walker, lengthen the time you will be able to go to the bathroom by yourself, and be able to maintain your pride / independence as long as possible, you will need to do some work everyday towards that goal.  It doesn't matter when you start.  Just know that the earlier you start, the better the results will be in the long run.  

What to do?

First, start exercising three times per week.  That seems simple and obvious, right?  You would be surprised how many people still don't exercise regularly.  They will come up with all kinds of excuses for why they are too busy to do something as simple as train for three regularly spaced hours during the week.  
I understand that we all have priorities, but how far will you get on your other priorities if you lose your health. You must make your body's maintenance a priority.  It is the only vehicle you've got.

What kind of exercise?

The Wall Street Journal article got it right and suggested a mix of resistance training and aerobic training.  If you only had time for one, I would suggest starting with the resistance training because it suppresses muscle loss more than any other type of exercise.  
This means you will NEED to learn how to train with weights. I can't emphasize this enough.  The old, rusty barbells from the good old days are literally the most effective way to maintain muscle.  You can try body weight exercises or train with rubber bands, but you will eventually need to handle weights in order to get the biggest bang for the buck.  And most of us would rather be doing something other than training.  So it pays to do the most effective things to meet your goal.  

Change your diet.

Another topic touched is the ever-increasing mound of scientific data that suggests that older people need more protein than younger people.  Recently, there have also been studies that suggest fewer calories consumed is healthier for us.  
This points to an obvious shift in our diets.  We need to eat more protein as we get older, but this doesn't mean add protein to an already calorie heavy diet.  That would be detrimental to your health.  We should, instead, shift away from some of our beloved, sugary, carbohydrates in order to make room for higher levels of protein.  
The article suggests taking in 1 to 1.5 grams per kilogram of body weight per day.  That means that a 165 lbs man would need to divide up 75 grams of protein into his meals for the day.  For example, 75 grams of protein would be the equivalent of about 3.5 cans of tuna or a can of tuna per meal, but I don't recommend eating tuna everyday.   Today it is very easy to find tons of high protein dishes thanks to Dr. Atkins influence.  If you want a good primer, look in my book reviews to get info on a great diet book.

What does it all mean?

Well I've always maintained that the best way to train your body is to train for functional strength.  I mean that you should try to make your body stronger, faster, and better instead of just prettier. While we tend to use a lot of body building type movements to get to this point, I need to stress that this is not about getting a beach body.  That may be a nice side effect, but the important thing is that we get stronger, not that we get a six pack.  We stay healthier in spite of the fact that we fit in our clothes better.  The focus must be on creating the habit of training with complex movements like the squat, bench press, and dead lift while increasing our protein levels and slightly reducing our calories overall.  This, over time, seems to lead to the effects of the magic pill that every Pharmaceutical company is trying to create so that you'll have just one more pill to take.  

In the end, taking care of your health is like saving for retirement.  It requires discipline and the sooner your start, the better.  But it is easy once you make it a habit. 

Stay strong!