During consultations I have lost count the number of times I have listened to a male client say “I don’t want to be Arnold Schwarzenegger” or a female say “I don’t want to look like a man” in regards to resistance training. Not only are both of these narratives harmful and almost impossible to achieve, but striving to maintain your muscle mass and build strength over time is a foundational strategy for living a longer healthier life as portrayed but some good literature.
Sarcopenia is the scientific term for muscle failure, loss of muscle mass and function. Its taken from a Greek word meaning ‘poverty of flesh’.
It is now considered an organic disease as defined by the European Working Group in Older People Cruz-Jentoft et al, 2019.
So why should you care about strength and maintaining muscle?
Well, it’s a strong predictor in all-cause mortality. Volaklis 2015, Found that Muscular strength is inversely and independently associated with all-cause mortality., this was also reported in several clinical populations.
Another cohort study in Sweden followed over a million male adolescents from 16-19 over 24 years. They measured hand grip and knee extension strength and found that those with the highest strength in these tests had between a 20-35% risk reduction in for all-cause mortality.
Sarcopenia is no considered to be on the level of other chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and is a modifiable risk factor that we as coaches and trainers can educate our clients on and improve their health outcomes.
To prevent sarcopenia the goal is net muscle anabolism. So, muscle protein synthesis should outweigh muscle protein breakdown.
Lift progressively more over time and keep dietary protein high (1.6g per kg of BW).