Sarcopenia Affects Everyone: You Need to Act Now

Sarcopenia is age-related muscle loss – and it eventually affects everyone.

From your 40’s onwards, you’ll lose around 10% of your skeletal muscle every year.

There are obvious consequences (risk of falls, weakness) and non-obvious ones (blood sugar regulation). The risks of sarcopenia are exaggerated when weakness causes lack of movement. That sedentary behaviour leads to further muscle loss, and a negative spiral of frailty.

The good news is that you don’t need to become a muscle-bound gym-bunny to avoid these negative effects.

In fact, acting during middle age will avoid or even reverse the damage that sarcopenia causes.

This page shows you how in three simple sections:

–        The Benefits of Lean Muscle Mass (not trophy muscle bulk!)

–        Simple Resistance Training Without a Weights Gym

–        Protein: The Key to Healthy, Lean Muscles

Will Sarcopenia Affect Me? Definitions, Cause and Benefits of Building Lean Muscle

There are two ways sarcopenia occurs.

First, if you are immobilised, your muscles will shrink. Second, as you get older, your lean muscle mass will reduce. Combine these two, and you’ll lose muscle tissue at an alarming rate.

Scientists fiercely debate the exact definition.

Age-related muscle loss of 10% per decade from 40 onwards is close enough for me. Though I will happily highlight that this figure is not agreed on by all scientists.

Why do You Need to Maintain Lean Muscle Mass?

Lean muscle mass has nothing to do with the vanity of bulky gym-bunny types.

Strong muscle fibres, with some tone boost your health in many ways.

–        Reduced Risk of Falls: Balance, core strength and agility prevent falls, which can be dangerous as we age.

–        Blood Sugar Regulation: The more lean muscle you have, the less insulin you need to regulate blood sugar levels.

–        Cancer Rate Reduction: A huge study in Europe showed a significant reduction in certain cancers over 18 years for people with higher lean muscle mass.

Boosting Lean Muscle Mass Without the Gym

Boosting and maintaining your lean muscle mass is easier than you’d think.

While starting early and maintaining through life is ideal, you can get started at any age.

Best of all, you don’t need to share sweaty gyms with vain supplement junkies who value looks over their health.

Here are some suggestions exercises that will ward off sarcopenia. Why not combine two or three?

–        Bodyweight Exercises: Push-ups (from your knees to start), squats and planks can are easy in the comfort of your own home. A simple and effective starting point for lean muscle growth.

–        Ankle Weights: Climbing the stairs with ankle weights helps tone those leg muscles. This will give you a cardio workout at the same time.

–        Kettlebells or Dumbbells: Start light and keep your dumbbells handy for ‘exercise snacks’ through the day. For example, a few lifts while the kettle is boiling.

–        Pilates / Yoga: Combining stretches with resistance training will give you the best of both worlds. These activities can be social or performed alone.

–        Resistance Bands: Simple elasticated bands are a versatile way to resistance train without investing in your own weights set.

Protein Builds Lean Muscle Mass – and Reduces Sarcopenia

Ensuring you eat enough protein keeps sarcopenia at bay.

This does not give you license to enjoy a steak dinner every day (as lovely as that sounds)!

Protein comes from both animal and plant sources. A popular rule of thumb is to halve your weight (in kilograms), then take away 10. Use that as the number of grams of protein to eat each day.

For example, if you weigh 80kgs (Approx. 12.6 stone), then 80/2 = 40, minus 10 is 30g of high-quality protein daily to maintain your current muscle mass.

Here are some excellent protein sources:

–        Meat

–        Fish

–        Eggs

–        Dairy

–        Legumes, Nuts and Seeds

–        Soya

Remember, a healthy diet involves more than protein. If you can afford grass-fed, organic meats then all the better.

Wrapping Up: Sarcopenia is Preventable – Start Now!

You’ll lose muscle as you age – it is all but inevitable.

A little prevention goes a long way. Simple bodyweight exercises can alongside your regular routine. This will compliment any cardio, HIIT and stretching workouts. Boosting protein intake – and balancing this with reduced sugar – gives your body plenty of fuel. This will build lean, healthy muscle mass.

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