Strength Training and Increased Protein Intake is Key to Good Health as You Age

Research is now revealing what life-long weight lifters have always known, and that is maintaining your muscle mass is key to staying healthy and strong as you age. The importance of muscle mass, strength, and metabolic function in the performance of exercise, as well as the activities of daily living has never been questioned. However, the role your muscles play in whole-body protein metabolism is less recognized.

Your muscle plays a central role in your whole-body protein metabolism by serving as the principle reservoir for amino acids to maintain protein synthesis (growth and regeneration) in vital tissues and organs in the absence of consuming enough protein in your diet. In other words, if you don't get enough protein in your diet, your body breaks down your muscle mass in order to make the necessary amino acids you need to survive.

Additionally, new research points to a key role that muscle metabolism plays in the prevention of many pathologic conditions and chronic diseases. Loss of muscle has been associated with weakness, fatigue, insulin resistance, fractures, and frailty. Thus, many of the degenerative conditions that are associated with aging are caused by poor muscle health.

The natural loss of muscle mass as a result of age is called Sacopenia, and it can begin in your 30s. Left unabated this condition accelerates with time as your body starts tearing down old muscle faster than it can build new muscle tissue. The good news is you can slow and in some cases reverse muscle loss as you age through regular weight lifting exercise, and getting the right amount of protein in your diet.

Scientific research is showing that weight lifting is one of the most effective ways of building and maintaining muscle mass as you age and here's why. Lifting weights is a method of overloading your body through exercise with a resistance that you are not accustomed to handling.  In response your body adapts to this overloading process by building stronger muscles to accommodate the new demands. Research says that by the time you reach middle age you should start lifting weights at least 2 times per week to retain your muscle.

Getting the proper amount of protein in your diet to maximize the results of weight lifting adds to the effectiveness of building and maintaining your muscle mass as you age. Protein is a necessary part of every living cell in your body. Next to water, protein comprises the greatest portion of your body weight. Protein substances make up your muscles, ligaments, tendons, organs, glands, nails, hair, and many vital body fluids. Your body uses the protein you eat for the vital functions of survival first before it devotes any for muscle building and repair. Thus if you are not consuming enough protein in your diet optimal muscle building and repair is impossible.

While 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight has been the old the normal recommendation for daily protein intake, new studies show that 1 to 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight may be more beneficial in building, maintaining, and reducing muscle loss. The goal of protein consumption should be to optimize muscle growth and repair and studies now reveal that consuming 25 to 30 grams of protein at each meal is necessary for this to take place.

Keeping Healthy Muscle is as Important as Losing Weight

I want you to realize the importance of developing and maintaining muscle mass as you age.  Many of the degenerative conditions once thought to be a result of growing old can be directly associated with inactivity and the loss of muscle mass.  Below is a very informative excerpt on this subject by Dr. Donald K. Layman, one of the most respected experts on nutrition and human metabolism of our day.

Muscle size and strength are usually associated with body builders and athletes, but the latest research is proving that healthy muscles are critical for adult health. Average life expectancy continues to increase, but along with the blessing of longer life comes the risk of age-related diseases. The risks for obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, heart disease, and cancers increase with advancing age. Excluding individuals who die early in life from an accident, injury or acute illness, we all expect to live healthy and robust lives well into our 80’s or beyond. For adults over the age of 65, the real risks for loss of health relate to muscle function and mobility. The measure of functional mobility is defined as the ability to perform activities of daily living or ADL. ADL is a measure of independent living and directly predicts morbidity and mortality – how healthy will you be? … and how long will you live?

A few years ago, a colleague, Dr. Robert Wolfe, wrote an article entitled The Underappreciate Role of Muscle in Health and Disease. The article highlighted the importance of skeletal muscle in adult health. Dr. Wolfe looked at healthy aging, acute illnesses, chronic diseases, and recovery from surgery or falls and the common factor for recovery and even survival from each of these conditions was skeletal muscle health. If your muscles are healthy, then your odds of avoiding or recovering from illnesses improve greatly. Dr. Wolfe reported some eye-opening facts – women over the age of 65 who fall and break a hip, over 50% never walk again; recovery from cancer and chemotherapy is directly related to muscle mass at initial diagnosis; and risk of developing diabetes is inversely related to muscle metabolic health. Dr. Steve Blair at the Cooper Institute coined the concept of Fit and Fat to reflect that many people can be overweight and still healthy – as long as they have good muscle health. The list of examples goes on but the point is clear, healthy muscles equal healthy adults.

The importance of muscle health highlights a critical difference among weight loss diets. There are many fad diets and so-called nutrition companies that make claims about rapid weight loss or cures for obesity, but the secret they want to hide is they also cause muscle loss. That’s a critical factor when you evaluate a weight loss program. People tend to ask “how much weight can I lose in the shortest period of time?” These quick fix fad diets may work for spring break when you’re 18 to 22, but it’s a dangerous practice for any adult over 30. The correct questions are “is it a proven weight loss program, and what are the proportions of fat and muscle lost?” Be sure that the so-called miracle diet PROVES that it only causes loss of body fat and not muscle. Loss of muscle means you have damaged your metabolic flexibility and your functional mobility and virtually guaranteed the weight will return (note: research shows 93% of weight is regained within one year with these fad diets); and even worse the weight that returns will be all body fat increasing the risk for diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and osteoporosis. If you lose muscle during weight loss, the muscle loss will be permanent increasing your metabolic risks and accelerating aging.

Muscle health is so important that medical experts in gerontology are debating whether adults over 60 should EVER lose weight. Skeletal muscles have obvious importance for posture and mobility. When we’re young our muscles are strong and flexible. The same is true for metabolism. Young muscles have high metabolic flexibility. Teenagers seldom get muscle soreness and usually recover rapidly after an exercise challenge. As we get older, we observe changes in physical strength and flexibility, and there are changes in metabolic flexibility that we can’t see. As we get older, muscle health and metabolic flexibility requires more attention.

Strength training and getting the proper amount of protein in your diet are the two most effective ways of developing and maintaining muscle mass as you age.  Checkout my favorite strength training programs from Beginners to Advanced levels at Forever Fit and Firm.

Muscle Plays a Major Role in Your Health

I've been in the health and fitness industry for over 21 years now and I've always emphasized the importance of building and maintaining healthy muscle, especially as you age. I've always known that muscle plays a major role in your overall health and fitness and current research has now proven this as so.

The importance of muscle mass, strength, and metabolic function in the performance of exercise, as well as the activities of daily living has never been questioned. However, the role your muscles play in whole-body protein metabolism is less recognized.

Your muscle plays a central role in your whole-body protein metabolism by serving as the principle reservoir for amino acids to maintain protein synthesis (growth & regeneration) in vital tissues and organs in the absence of consuming enough protein in your diet.  In other words, if you don't get enough protein in your diet, your body breaks down your muscle mass in order to make the necessary amino acids you need to survive.

Additionally, new research points to a key role that muscle metabolism plays in the prevention of many pathologic conditions and chronic diseases.  Loss of muscle has been associated with weakness, fatigue, insulin resistance, fractures, and frailty. Thus, many of the degenerative conditions that are associated with aging are caused by poor muscle health.

Thus, building and maintaining your muscle mass is one of the most important things you can do for your overall health.  In my next series of post I will show you the most effective ways to accomplish this.

Is Sacopenia Causing You to Get Fatter?

Sacopenia is the progressive loss of muscle mass, function, quality, and strength related to the aging process.  When the word aging comes mind most people think of 65 plus, however you can start to lose muscle mass in your 30s.  As a matter of fact, between the ages of 30 to 60, the average adult will gain 1 lb of weight and lose 1/2 lb of muscle yearly.  That's a gain of 30 lbs of fat and a loss of 15 lbs of muscle over a 30 year period.

How does this happen?  Beginning in their mid-30s most people start to lead a more sedentary lifestyle.  They have careers, get married, have children, and lead less physically active lives.  Your body is designed to be physically active, and the old saying "use it or lose it" is the truth when it comes to your body, especially your muscle mass.

Why do you gain body fat and lose muscle? Muscle is the component of your body that is active and burns the most calories.  Muscle mass burns calories while you are at rest just to maintain itself, even when you are asleep.  A pound of muscle burns approximately 6 calories per day even if you are doing nothing but resting and it burns more if you are active.  Your muscles favorite fuel during times of rest and moderate activity is body fat.

On the other hand, body fat is designed to be used by your body in times of famish.  It is encoded in your body to store body fat just in case you had to go without food for several days.  Consequently body fat only burns about 1 calorie per day to maintain itself.  So, you can see over time as you lose your muscle mass you lose your capacity to burn the calories you consume at the highest level.  Other words, your metabolism drops in relation to your muscle loss.

What can be done to prevent sacopenia?  Research shows the two most important things your can do to prevent muscle loss as you age is regular strength training (also known as weight lifting), and consuming the proper amount of protein high quality protein at each meal.

2 to 3 strength training sessions each week elicits an anabolic response in your muscles (repair and growth) causing your body to adapt to the increased demand to the resistance you are lifting.  And getting enough protein at breakfast, lunch, and dinner signals the body that it is okay to use the protein to rebuild and repair your muscles thus, maintaining your muscle mass.  Experts now agree that 25 to 30 grams of high quality protein at each meal is enough to maximize muscle growth and repair.

I'm in my 50s and I have more muscle mass than I had in my 20s.  I strength train 3 to 4 times each week and I supplement my protein requirements with a whey based smoothie every morning and I have done so for years.  Whey is a dairy derived protein and is one of the highest quality and most digestible proteins that you can consume.  Recently I teamed with a company called Vitalabs to produce one of the best whey protein supplements on the market.  Check it out by clicking on this link and let me know what you think. Protein My Whey.

Healthy Muscles for Healthy Adults

Here is another great blog by Dr. Donald K. Layman.

Muscle size and strength are usually associated with body builders and athletes, but the latest research is proving that healthy muscles are critical for adult health. Average life expectancy continues to increase, but along with the blessing of longer life comes the risk of age-related diseases. The risks for obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, heart disease, and cancers increase with advancing age. Excluding individuals who die early in life from an accident, injury or acute illness, we all expect to live healthy and robust lives well into our 80’s or beyond. For adults over the age of 65, the real risks for loss of health relate to muscle function and mobility. The measure of functional mobility is defined as the ability to perform activities of daily living or ADL. ADL is a measure of independent living and directly predicts morbidity and mortality – how healthy will you be? … and how long will you live?

A few years ago, a colleague, Dr. Robert Wolfe, wrote an article entitled The Underappreciate Role of Muscle in Health and Disease. The article highlighted the importance of skeletal muscle in adult health. Dr. Wolfe looked at healthy aging, acute illnesses, chronic diseases, and recovery from surgery or falls and the common factor for recovery and even survival from each of these conditions was skeletal muscle health. If your muscles are healthy, then your odds of avoiding or recovering from illnesses improve greatly. Dr. Wolfe reported some eye-opening facts – women over the age of 65 who fall and break a hip, over 50% never walk again; recovery from cancer and chemotherapy is directly related to muscle mass at initial diagnosis; and risk of developing diabetes is inversely related to muscle metabolic health. Dr. Steve Blair at the Cooper Institute coined the concept of Fit and Fat to reflect that many people can be overweight and still healthy – as long as they have good muscle health. The list of examples goes on but the point is clear, healthy muscles equal healthy adults.

The importance of muscle health highlights a critical difference among weight loss diets. There are many fad diets and so-called nutrition companies that make claims about rapid weight loss or cures for obesity, but the secret they want to hide is they also cause muscle loss. That’s a critical factor when you evaluate a weight loss program. People tend to ask “how much weight can I lose in the shortest period of time?” These quick fix fad diets may work for spring break when you’re 18 to 22, but it’s a dangerous practice for any adult over 30. The correct questions are “is it a proven weight loss program, and what are the proportions of fat and muscle lost?” Be sure that the so-called miracle diet PROVES that it only causes loss of body fat and not muscle. Loss of muscle means you have damaged your metabolic flexibility and your functional mobility and virtually guaranteed the weight will return (note: research shows 93% of weight is regained within one year with these fad diets); and even worse the weight that returns will be all body fat increasing the risk for diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and osteoporosis. If you lose muscle during weight loss, the muscle loss will be permanent increasing your metabolic risks and accelerating aging.

Muscle health is so important that medical experts in gerontology are debating whether adults over 60 should EVER lose weight. Skeletal muscles have obvious importance for posture and mobility. When we’re young our muscles are strong and flexible. The same is true for metabolism. Young muscles have high metabolic flexibility. Teenagers seldom get muscle soreness and usually recover rapidly after an exercise challenge. As we get older, we observe changes in physical strength and flexibility, and there are changes in metabolic flexibility that we can’t see. As we get older, muscle health and metabolic flexibility requires more attention.

To maintain muscle health, you need healthy behaviors and a healthy lifestyle. Two major components of a healthy lifestyle are physical activity and nutrition, and specifically the physical activity needs to involve stretching and resistance and the nutrition needs to control protein and Carbs. These are fundamental principles in the METABOLIQ Lifestyle.

Don’t be fooled by the claims of the latest fad diet. Look for the research. METABOLIQ was developed and tested to protect skeletal muscles and the results are published in the leading nutrition research journals. We’ve done the research with young adults and with adults over 65. METABOLIQ allows for natural loss of body fat while protecting active muscles for everyone. Remember, muscles are the foundation of adult health and the METABOLIQ Lifestyle delivers on the promise of energizing muscles and creating a natural and healthy weight loss.

For your health,
Dr. Donald K. Layman
CSO, Qivana


Dr. Donald K. Layman is Professor Emeritus of Nutrition in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Illinois. With more than 33 years of teaching and research experience, Dr. Layman has numerous awards and recognitions, including awards from the American Society for Nutritional Sciences, the National Institutes of Health and the Nutrition and Metabolism Society

Please follow this link to find out to purchase the Metaboliq System and other amazing natural nutritional products, Qivana