One thing that many gym-goers and fitness fiends seem to worry about the most is that their muscles may get too bulky. However, what many people should be worrying about is the exact opposite– losing muscle mass as they age. Studies have shown that adults who don’t regularly participate in strength training can lose, on average, a half-pound of lean muscle tissue per year… starting at the age of just 25! This process, known as sarcopenia, can be halted and even reversed with the correct workout schedule. Sarcopenia prevention exercises are easy to work into your regular fitness routine, but if you don’t have a fitness routine just yet, they’re easy to get started with at Loyalty fitness with our one-on-one personal training programs at our Syosset, NY and Greenwich, CT private training gyms.
Muscle tissue needs more energy and calories per day to maintain than fat tissue does. This means that the more lean muscle mass you have in your body, the more calories you actually burn day to day, even when resting. The amount of muscle mass you have directly affects your metabolism in this way! As sarcopenia takes place with age, a person’s metabolism starts to decrease slowly, which is one of the reasons many people gain weight as they age.
Think about it this way: an average 55-year old woman will have about 15 pounds less of lean muscle tissue than she did at age 25. If her weight has stayed the same or gone up in that time, the muscle tissue is being replaced with fat tissue. Muscle tissue also takes up less space pound-for-pound than fat tissue, which means that at 25 years old the woman is wearing smaller clothing sizes than the woman at 55.
This may sound very daunting, but your body will respond to how you work with it. Strength training to prevent muscle loss is a great way to stop sarcopenia, and even reverse the effects. Remember how your body worked 5 or 10 years ago. With some dedicated strength training, you can return to that feeling! Because muscle takes up less space than fat, you won’t bulk up from your workouts. In fact, your body will be smaller and more toned from the regular exercise.
If you’d like to know more about strength training to prevent muscle loss, contact us today. Don’t be afraid to dive into strength training with us! We work at your pace to increase your strength as well as your total body health.