What we know is that, regardless of beliefs, religions and ideas, you are born, you live and you die. I make it sound short and that’s because it is. We have a short existence here on Earth that we know of. After that point, the body you inhibit becomes food for worms. Because life is so short, it’s important that you be able to function and enjoy it as much as possible. To really enjoy life, you obviously need to be strong and fit. The idea of being strong and fit will vary on individual people’s opinions. Some of us don’t care about bulking up and lifting tractor trailers, and some of us may care less about being able to run or jump higher than someone else. That’s fine. However, we must all agree that being able to move in different directions as fast as you could (or can) while in your “20s”. Also, maintaining optimal posture is a good thing no matter what we think it means to be strong and fit. These characteristics are important parts of quality of life. So if we want to hold on to quality of life, we will need to hold on to our strength. Since we are born to move quickly in multiple directions, and if we stop doing so, we lose the ability (sometimes forever) we need to defend our bodies against the effects of sarcopenia for as long as possible.
Sarcopenia is a term used to define the loss of muscle mass and strength that occurs with aging (1,2,3,4). That’s right, as you age you lose muscle mass and strength and with that comes a loss of speed, flexibility and coordination. The good thing for us is that we can reduce these effects to a minimum. The downside is that this is the natural progression of your life after your physical peak. You will reach the age of your maximum individual physical performance. After this point, the potential begins to decline slowly (and for trainer potatoes, rapidly). Typically, a person will unknowingly reach their peak of fitness and after cycles of ridiculous diets and over-the-top fat-burning supplements, they will begin to lose vast amounts of potential to become lean, strong, and fit.
A good example of this is competitive athletes like Misty May and Kerri Walsh. They have reached their physical peak and are now going through a decline in their physical potential. However, they are getting wise in their sport. The same can be said of legends like Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan peaked at him at a young age in the NBA. Later, Jordan retired and returned to basketball to discover that he was not in the best potential condition to outmaneuver and outmaneuver his younger opponents. However, he responded wisely and took advantage of the outside shooting and youthful swagger that blossomed in his opponents. A smart coach once told me the phrase “if I knew then what I know now…” That phrase sums up what most of us feel as we age and lose physical potential. The best thing about these examples is that they are athletes who haven’t lost a lot of muscle mass and strength as they age. I’ll show you how to maintain muscle mass and strength even if you’re not an elite athlete.
Sarcopenia, brings frailty later in life. The SAID principle hits hard here. The body needs to be stimulated and overloaded to maintain muscle mass, flexibility, speed, and dexterity. Those who become obese as they age are more in danger of becoming what we call “fat-frail.” Think about the lines of the fat guy on one of those little scooter things going around in a Wal-Mart super. It looks like a massive heart attack waiting to happen.
When I say brittle, I mean the loss of type IIa muscle fibers (1,2,3). I would add that the loss of type IIb muscle fibers is pretty bad business as well. For those who don’t know, type II muscle fibers are fast twitch fibers. They are responsible for speed, agility, and maintaining strength. Not only that, it’s the Type II fibers that allow a person to not only get a lean, solid “tone”, but allows that person to maintain that look (seriously looking good naked). So, to fend off sarcopenia and stay strong and fit, you have to hang on and recruit type II fast twitch muscle fibers. More specifically, you need to lift heavier weights and do a short duration energy system workout with faster movements. Don’t confuse it with biking with your family on weekends down the street, or going to one of those dance and weight-lifting classes at your gym, which is fully equipped with a bubbly, stretchy, overcaffeinated instructor. .
Thus, the diminished ability to remodel these important muscle proteins may play a role in the development of muscle atrophy, metabolic abnormalities, and impaired physical functioning seen in old age (2,3). Simply saying that testosterone levels and gh levels will drop. This is not good for men or women. It is what facilitates the maintenance of muscles. It’s what allows you to eat like a horse and train like one. It is also the main factor in sexual desire. Now where the hell is your quality of life if you don’t have sex drive? We’re really looking at the insulin-induced drop in DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate), testosterone, and IGF-1 (growth factor). To curb this proposal once again, lift and lift heavy. Do short duration energy system work. Finally, eat how you want to maintain muscle mass and look good naked. For vegans and aspiring vegans (you know, the guys who eat salad all day but don’t give an egg, or don’t consider fish and chicken meat… oh, if stupidity could kill…) . You need protein and good animal sources of food. That’s right, slaughter healthy animals to maintain your sex drive. Reduced protein synthesis leads to atrophy of muscle mass and degradation of testosterone production (3). I am not going to describe all the needs here.
Sarcopenia has been linked to several chronic conditions that are common among the elderly, including osteoporosis, insulin resistance, and arthritis (3). To keep the skeletal system healthy, the same methods should be applied as for recruiting muscles. You have to lift heavy weights. Bones are like muscles when it comes to gaining strength. Strength is very specific to the exercises used. So don’t expect leg extensions to keep your spine strong, in fact don’t expect a ridiculous exercise like leg extensions to do more than cause knee pain. You’ll need to get moving with multi-joint exercises (ie deadlifts, squats, pushups, etc.).
Finally, you will always have type I muscle fibers. These muscle fibers are simply for endurance and are slow twitch in nature. They are not difficult to maintain or recruit. For a quality life and body, you will need to recruit type II muscle fibers. These guys give you strength, power and speed. They will keep you from being a fragile, slow-moving person who just clings on for dear life. Instead, they will allow you to maintain a great body and enjoy the quality and function of life. Below I’ve listed some quick guidelines to get you on track and avoiding sarcopenia. Be smart and follow them.
1. Eat a proper omnivorous diet.
2. Move your body in all “planes of motion.” You are not a 2D cartoon moving in 3D.
3. Master the primary movements used in life (squats, push-ups, pull-ups, dips, deadlifts, lunges, and twists)
4. Lift a weight that is heavy enough to cause a lot of effort to get the number of repetitions you planned to do. In other words, don’t grab the fluorescent pink dumbbells and start doing ballerina squats.
5. Be smart when doing cardio. Unless you’re interested in doing a marathon event, don’t waste your time training like that. Move as fast as possible for short intervals.
Now get to work and maintain your quality of life (4).
Reference:
1. Morley JE, Baumgartner RN, Roubenoff R, Mayer J, Nair KS (2001) Sarcopenia. J Lab Clin Med, 137(4):231-43.
2. Proctor DN, Balagopal P, Nair KS (1998) Age-related sarcopenia in humans is associated with reduced rates of muscle-specific protein synthesis. J Nutri.,128 (2 extra):351S-355S.
3. Welle S (2002) Cellular and molecular basis of age-related sarcopenia. Can J Appl Physiol. 27(1):19-41.
4. Deschenes SR. (2004) Effects of aging on the type and size of muscle fibers. Sports Medicine 34(12):809-24