So the conclusion is to build as much muscle as you can before you hit your 80’s. I like this conclusion.
It’s not clear to me if any studies like this have been done looking at people who have a history of weight training/muscle building or taking into account their diets. I would think the population would matter (untrained, eating USDA macros vs trained, high protein eating).
There is no mention of the diet or the program that was used in the study.
You will not increase muscle mass on a maintenance diet regardless of age. You have to overload calories in order to gain weight/muscle mass. Without that crucial piece of data there is no reason to pay attention to this study.
Also, older people take longer to increase muscle mass. 3 months is not a long enough time to determine whether or not the program was having an effect in my opinion.
Still, the basic recommendation of “bank as much muscle mass as you can when younger than 80” is valid.
[quote]DaCharmingAlbino wrote:
There is no mention of the diet or the program that was used in the study.
You will not increase muscle mass on a maintenance diet regardless of age. You have to overload calories in order to gain weight/muscle mass. Without that crucial piece of data there is no reason to pay attention to this study.
Also, older people take longer to increase muscle mass. 3 months is not a long enough time to determine whether or not the program was having an effect in my opinion.
Still, the basic recommendation of “bank as much muscle mass as you can when younger than 80” is valid.[/quote]
There was an 80ish weightlifter who wrote of Ironman for a year or so. Some people who saw him in the gym said he was impressive. And Jack Lalayne is still doing pretty good for himself, of course he was very endurance motivated.
Keep in mind that if you make it to 80, you’re past the average life expectancy for both sexes.
I wouldn’t worry about gaining muscle at 80 as much as I would worry about… you know, breathing or walking at that age.
But, I just did a story the other day where I interviewed an 83-year old man who’s been working out for 65 years, and does 20 mins on the elliptical, weight trains for an hour, and does 20 pushups at the end of every workout. Guy didn’t sound a day over 60, either.
Art Devaney is still going strong at 70+, training hard, riding dirt bikes in the desert and generally living as we conceive a younger man might. He gains and loses weight (muscle weight) according to his training level and food intake at the time. If sarcopenia was going to hit him it should have done so 10 years ago. Can’t think it’s so much different at 80. He around weighs what he did at 30 and it ain’t fat, boy.
It may be that muscle-wastage in advanced years is the natural result of sitting on your ass and not eating enough, rather than being part of an evolutionary “kill-the-non-breeder oldster” strategy as media and incredibly compartmentalized and sometimes incompetent science would have us believe.
The decline of old age is characterized by inflammation, accelerating free radical levels and damage and a catabolic state. If these studies looked at these concerns VS free testosterone levels there would not be any surprises. Low T levels lead to muscle wasting - aka a catabolic state.