Like it or not, individuals lose muscle size and strength as they age. Excessive muscle loss, however, can cause difficulty and pain when performing routine daily tasks as well as poor cardiovascular, metabolic and bone health. Regular resistance exercise, when performed adequately, has the potential to attenuate or even reverse this process.
Identification
Sarcopenia is the medical term for the age-related decline of muscle size and strength. While the exact physical reasons for it are debatable, its negative impact on daily activities and overall health is not. A study published in the July 2010 issue of Physical Therapy, shows that elderly people with sarcopenia have significantly lower cardiovascular fitness, and are 30 percent more likely to have physical limitations within a five year period than those with normal muscle mass.
Effects of Resistance Exercise
Muscle mass is not stagnant; it is maintained by a dynamic and continuous breakdown and build-up of skeletal muscle proteins. Sarcopenia occurs with aging because muscle breakdown is significantly increased by things such as chronic inflammation, hormonal changes, physical inactivity, and poor nutrition. Researchers at the Buck Institute for Age Research have shown that resistance exercise has the potential to reverse aging in skeletal muscle because it improves the ability of muscle cells to resynthesize muscle proteins.
Limitations
Resistance exercise increases muscle mass in individuals of all ages, but age and gender can limit the amount of muscle an individual can reasonably expect to gain. A study in the August 2006 issue of the Journal of Applied Physiology, which compared the benefits of resistance exercise in young and older men and women, shows that older women were able to restore muscle mass to levels of women 35 years younger in as little as four months, but the capacity to increase muscle mass was much higher in the younger cohort, particularly young men.
Misconceptions
A common misconception is that cardiovascular exercise does not improve--and can even reduce--muscle size and strength. Research has consistently shown that activities such as running and swimming can attenuate the age-related decline of muscle mass. In order order to build significant muscle mass--at any age--resistance exercise is necessary, but combined resistance and endurance training is the best strategy for improving body composition and physical fitness among older individuals.
Prevention/Solution
To build muscle, resistance exercise should be performed a minimum of three days per week at moderate to hard intensities; it should include four to nine sets of eight to 15 repetitions, and work all major muscle groups. However, it is important to consider the limitations that older individuals--especially older women--have in their ability to build muscle through exercise. Because of this, combining resistance training with cardiovascular exercise and proper nutrition may be necessary.
References
- Physical Therapy; Sarcopenia, Cardiopulmonary Fitness, and Physical Disability in Community-Dwelling Elderly People; Chien M.Y. et al; July 2010
- "PLoS One"; Resistance Exercise Reverses Aging in Human Skeletal Muscle; Melov S. et al; May 2007
- Journal of Applied Physiology; Efficacy of 3 days/wk Resistance Training of Myofiber Hypertrophy and Myogenic Mechanisms in Young vs. Older Adults; Kosek D.J. et al; August 2006
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