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Strength training : The best way to combat muscle loss from aging
Summary
It is only natural to loe muscle mass as one gets older. However, this process can be delayed substantially with the help of weight training. Here's what you need to do
A colleague said during breakfast one day that he wanted to start working out because he had just turned 40-years-old and had started seeing visible decline in muscle-mass. This is someone who had hardly worked out in the past, so a decline must have felt more jarring than amongst those who do workout.
In fact, this is a natural decline, known as sarcopenia, which starts among men after the age of 30, at a rate 3-5% per decade, and sometimes even faster. The silver lining is that all that is lost is not lost forever though, but it will only come back with effort and planning.
“One possible contributor to sarcopenia is the natural decline of testosterone, the hormone that stimulates protein synthesis and muscle growth. Think of testosterone as the fuel for your muscle-building fire," states a Harvard Health article titled Preserve Your Muscle Mass. In certain circles, it’s getting popular to go in for testosterone supplementation, but the procedure comes with risks and is not the solution to battle the decline in muscle mass.
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The real solution to arresting this decline lies in doing resistance workouts and combining that with a protein and complex carb rich diet. The workout style does not have to be cardio heavy because one is chasing muscle gain. Instead, just like working out at any age, it should focus on PRT—progressive resistance training.
Physiotherapist clinics in India are full of older people getting treatments for aches and immobility, but such treatments are focused on making people feel good, rather than helping them deal with the root cause. Getting better needs a more mature approach because the science of decline is unavoidable. Research suggests that by the time people are in their 60s, muscle loss can be as high as 1% per year. This is an incredibly layered process, which is fascinating and yet scary as we age.
Expert in nutrition and exercise metabolism Dr Oliver Witard explains one of the primary causes of this as anabolic resistance. “With ageing, each step of the [digestive] pathway can be impacted. Simply looking at digestion, there's evidence that—as we get older—amino acids can get stuck in the gut rather than being transported to the small intestine. This is called a splanchnic retention of amino acids," he says in an interview for an article titled, Why Do We Lose Muscle Mass As We Age And What Can We Do To Mitigate This?
This pathway is also called the mTOR pathway. I wrote about how the consuming of branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) can help improve this in an earlier Lounge piece titled, Why Branched-Chain Amino Acids Are Vital For Your Fitness Training. The fact that losing teeth and being unable to chew food to break down protein we consume can affect this pathway right at the start. So muscle loss in old-age can start with that, leading to a breakdown in the cycle of synthesis. There is overwhelming research that the lack of exercise leads to a drop in metabolic rate, which means a higher risk of obesity and other issues like type 2 diabetes.
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While the physiological effects of aging are the same, sarcopenia in women can be slightly different and related to menopause as well. “Estrogen, mainly E2, may be directly involved in muscle metabolism by binding to estrogen receptors expressed on skeletal muscle, as well as indirectly by altering the secretion of growth hormone and insulin growth factor. Estrogen may also play a role in regulating carbohydrate and lipid metabolism by relieving muscle glycogen and inducing lipid oxidation, which may influence skeletal muscle composition in postmenopausal women," states a 2022 study titled, Sarcopenia In Menopausal Women: Current Perspectives.
What is interesting is that this is very different conclusion from one reached by a separate study from 2012, which found that muscle mass “is not affected by the decrease in estrogens". Women also tend to add fat after menopause, which makes it even more important to go for strength training.
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It’s remarkable how the best remedy to delay sarcopenia is the tried and tested eat-well-and-exercise formula. But as we grow older, it is riskier to lift heavy weights. Which means it may be better to train with lighter weights and higher reps. The reason to start sooner rather than later is also the risk one runs of developing muscle atrophy, which is muscle and strength loss due to factors which are not related to aging.
These can include hormonal issues, injuries and other factors which can be mitigated by exercise. Lastly, following a lifestyle which keeps the human machine well-oiled with activity and diet also means stronger bones which means a smaller risk of injury in old-age which can lead to disabilities in movement. The lesson is, it is never too late to start working out.
Pulasta Dhar is a football commentator, podcaster and writer.
