Use It Or Lose It - Why We Need To Maintain Our Muscle Mass
11 July 2018
Keeping fit is not just about looking good on the beach this summer. Although it’s good to feel happy in your body there are more important benefits to exercise than flashing your abs on holiday! Exercise, particularly resistance training and weight bearing exercises, is really important for your old age, helping you to live longer and live better when you reach retirement.
If retirement seems a long way off, remember that what you do now (or don’t do) can have an impact later in life. It’s all about maintaining muscle mass; so you can keep the weight off, stop muscle being replaced with fat, and crucially avoid age-related frailty and health conditions that can have a detrimental impact on your wellbeing when you do retire.
Why Muscle Mass Is Important For Wellbeing
From your 30s-40s you start to lose muscle mass. As a result you’ll burn fewer calories and if you don’t change your diet or take positive steps to maintain muscle mass, you’ll find that fat begins to move in. You might not notice it because you may remain the same shape. Clothes still fit but instead of being lean and muscular, you might begin to be a bit wobbly and saggy!
If we lose muscle mass and put on more fat we become more vulnerable to health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity. This potent combination of conditions can cause metabolic syndrome, which increases your chances of coronary heart disease and stroke.
Another side effect of losing muscle mass is frailty. Bones become weaker and we lose body strength. Coordination and balance can be affected and you may also feel more exhausted - it’s hard work lugging your body around when your muscles are weak. That makes us vulnerable to injuries and especially falls; which is why older people can take much longer to recover and often an incident like a fall can be the precursor to becoming more dependent and disabled in later life.
Of course, losing muscle mass is a natural process – it’s called sacropenia. Typically we build muscle up until the age of 30 and after that we gradually lose muscle mass at a rate of 3-5% per decade. The process begins to accelerate in our 50s and 60s, unless we do something about it.
Fortunately you can minimise the impact of age-related muscle loss by exercising. Some studies have shown that you can reverse the affects of muscle loss and build muscle even in later life.
So, if you’re feeling motivated to replace fat with muscle and enjoy a healthy retirement (however far off that may be), here’s how to do it:
Muscle Building Exercises For A Healthy And Happier Retirement
The key is to do ‘resistance training’ or weight bearing exercises. If you’ve been focusing on running or other aerobic exercise such as dance classes, you need to introduce some regular weight-bearing exercises to strengthen and even build muscle.
That doesn’t mean you need to work out like a bodybuilder, you don’t even need to use weights although they are a useful addition to your exercise regime. Any weight-bearing exercise that requires you to move your body, a weight or resistance (like a band) against gravity, will strengthen muscles. Here are a few ideas:
- Use your own body weight – exercises like squats, sit ups, the plank, press ups and pull ups all use your natural body weight to add resistance and maintain lean muscle mass. You can do these at home, at the gym, or use your local park’s trim trail equipment for pull ups etc.
- Use everyday objects as weights – a drinks bottle can be used for shoulder presses, a tin of beans are handy for arm rows, a bag of flour makes backward lunges more effective, and instead of a kettlebell a 4 pint plastic milk container does exactly the same thing. Check out this video from the British Heart Foundation for a demonstration!
- Buy a resistance band – for a small outlay you can give your muscles a better workout with a resistance band. Use it for bicep curls, squats, press ups, chest presses, lunges and other exercises you can do from home.
If you’re worried about losing muscle mass and want to do something about it, it’s worth joining your local gym and asking for a programme that’s designed specifically for you. A personal trainer will be able to advise you on the best exercises and weights to use, number of repetitions and frequency of workouts.
As a starting point ask your employer about any health and wellbeing schemes or programmes they run to help staff get fit. You may find that you can get a discount on gym membership or take part in a group activity with other members of staff to give those muscles an effective workout.