Worried About Losing Muscle Mass with Ageing? Try These Exercises

Blogs13 Aug 2024

Did you know that it's very natural to lose muscle as we age? After the age of 30, our bones and muscles tend to slowly and naturally fall into a decline in strength. Of course, interventions can help slow this process and keep you fit for longer, but eventually, some degree of muscle loss due to ageing is inevitable. So how do we ensure that our muscles are as strong as possible as we age? This can be done through diet and workouts to gain muscle mass.

In this article, we’ll focus on the effect exercise can have on muscle mass and learn some exercises to build muscle in your 50s.

What Causes Muscle Loss in Midlife?

Muscle loss, also known as Sarcopenia , is a process of muscle degeneration in the body. This condition is naturally associated with those over 50. In your middle age, your body naturally begins to lose some amount of its muscle strength every year, making it hard for you to do several everyday activities.

Muscle loss can be caused by obesity, insulin resistance, arthritis, reduction in hormone levels, or have an inadequate protein intake. Furthermore, your muscle loss may worsen if you lead a sedentary lifestyle with minimal to no movement, have poor nutrition or suffer from chronic conditions. Stress and inflammation too might alleviate muscle loss in adults.

The Importance of Exercise as We Age

We all know that exercise is one of the top ways to remain fit and healthy. It typically increases muscle mass, reduces body fat, builds strength, and enhances overall physical capability. Interestingly, science has found that one of the most effective exercises to build muscle as you age is a combination of resistance training, and aerobic exercises. So, if you’re in your 40s, and looking to keep your muscles strong, choose a training program that mixes these exercises to build muscle mass to give you maximum health benefits.

Exercises to Build Muscle Mass

Squats

A squat is one of the most primal positions in humans, and to squat well and with ease is a sign of good health and strong muscles. Performing this fundamental movement can activate several muscles in the back, glutes, and legs and may help strengthen the lower body.

Lunges

Lunges are stabilising lower body movements that may improve the way you walk, climb stairs or step over objects. Lunges are great for those who sit a lot and barely get any movement in their legs. Doing this exercise regularly may help strengthen your quads, hamstrings, glutes etc. Some variations of lunges you can try under supervision are walking dumbbells, dumbbell lunges and side lunges.

Bench press

To target your shoulders, triceps and chest muscles and bring focus to your upper body, doing bench press exercises regularly may help.

Rows

If you want to target your back, particularly the important upper and middle muscles, do rows. Having age-related muscle wasting in your back can lead to poor posture, injury etc. Try training your back muscles to strengthen them by doing a mix of different rowing exercises like barbell row, dumbbell row, seated back row etc.

Walking

Apart from the above-mentioned exercises, another helpful way you can strengthen your muscles in your 50s and beyond is through walking daily! Since it is also an activity that is simple and can be done anywhere, studies have found adults over even 65 can increase their muscle mass by walking regularly for 6 months when they have a lower muscle mass!

Safety tips for exercising post-50

• Consult a healthcare professional when you sign up for new workouts to gain muscle mass or feel interested in one. They can assess your health and check whether certain exercises are right for you or not.
• Take guidance from a trainer while starting. When you’re a beginner, it may be easy to make mistakes in form which can lead to injuries and pain. To ensure that you’re not doing more harm than good, it's best to train under a professional fitness coach or trainer.
• Start slow and build intensity as you progress. You don’t have to jump in and do intrusive workouts from day one. Build your routine as you go and watch how it makes a difference!
• Never skip a good warmup and a thorough cool down as these can prevent injury.
• Pay close attention to your breathing and your movement as you go through each exercise.
• Ensure that you give your body enough rest between exercises to delay muscle wasting in old age.

Conclusion

Losing muscle is a part and parcel of ageing, and at some level, it must be embraced. However, there’s much we can do to delay losing muscle mass with age and keep our bodies fit and fine. A lot of this can be achieved through a mix of exercises, through resistance training, weight training and aerobic exercises. Adults post-fifty should be mindful of their bodies and injuries, take professional help and reclaim their fitness to ensure that their muscles are stronger for longer! From walking, and biking to deadlifts, lunges and more, there’s a ton of exercises adults can begin with. With these, having a protein-dense diet filled with essential minerals, adequate hydration, good sleep and lower stress levels may help boost their muscle health even more.

You can’t build muscle without nutrition so eating right is just as important. Use Right Shift’s free meal plan creator to make a personalised plan based on your weight, preferences and health goals so that you can achieve them easily. You can also check out our free health score calculator to understand how much work you need to put in and read up more on muscle-building, weight loss, healthy ageing and other topics on our website as well. So get started and make the right shift today!