Fitness Must-Knows: How To Maintain Muscle Mass As You Age

Recently updated on September 19th, 2024 at 09:18 am

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Everybody wants to look happy, beautiful, fit, and healthy while aging. Fortunately, in today’s generation, many people are now aware of the importance of having physical activities in their daily life to have more toned muscles and live healthily.

Maintaining a toned muscle mass could be difficult since it’s one of the natural effects of aging, especially if you don’t live a healthy and active lifestyle. Aging is not the only one to blame for muscle loss; other factors could include inadequate nutrition, lack of active physical activities, sickness, and more.

But, before you get all flustered up, know that there are ways you could maintain your muscle mass as you age or even slow down the process. So, stated below are some of the must-know ways to preserve muscles:

Take The Right Kind Of Supplements

One of the most known supplements available in the market is vitamins. If you’re experiencing a nutrient deficiency, your doctor could prescribe some vitamins to help your body. This could also apply in terms of preventing muscle loss due to age.

Nowadays, many muscle-building supplements on the market are formulated to help maintain and restore muscle mass. Some of the most known supplements bodybuilders take are protein and creatine. You could even assist muscle retention with bcaa’s amazing properties, especially since the body alone cannot make them.

Before you take any supplement, make sure you know how each supplement works and if it’s ideal for you. It’s also a good idea to consult your physician before trying out supplements or going for a big diet change.

Get Started With Strength Training

A person’s body fat will increase over time, meaning lean muscles could slowly and naturally decrease as you age. Thus, strength training is a great way to preserve lean muscles at any age. Strength exercise, also known as resistance training, is a physical activity through resistance training equipment like dumbbells, exercise bands, a wheel, and more.

Through this exercise, you can expect to feel stronger if you consistently do it and even build more muscles. You can also achieve greater strength with increased muscle growth, making it a win-win situation. If you neglect any physical activities while growing old, your muscle cells could shrink, fat gain could occur, and your body composition will also face changes.

Consume More Protein-Rich Food

Protein is one of the essential nutrients needed to experience muscle growth and maintain a toned and healthy muscle mass. Incorporating more protein-rich food could help you to reduce the occurrence of muscle loss, especially if you pair it with daily exercise.

Some of the most common protein-rich foods are eggs and meat. When buying meat, make sure you choose lean cuts. Avoid meat with excess marbling or fat as this can have more cholesterol than protein. Ideal meat choices for those looking for a good protein source are chicken and turkey breast, white-fleshed fish, pork loin, beef sirloin, etc.  

Moreover, meat is not only the source of protein you could go for. For vegans, various plant-based foods could be good options, like fruits such as avocados and kiwis and vegetables such as green peas and mushrooms.

However, if you have kidney disease and are taking medication, too much protein may not be good for you. Speak to your doctor before changing your diet.

Communicate With Your Healthcare Provider

As you age, you’ll never know if you are at risk for various diseases, especially if you’re not showing any symptoms. Thus, before working your way up into building more muscles or doing some before doing some lifestyle changes or intense workouts to maintain them, consult your healthcare provider first.

If you have any experience undergoing surgeries in the past, are still recovering from an illness, or are experiencing any nutritional deficiency, ask for medical advice only from registered medical health professionals and do your research too.

There could also be other reasons why it would be hard to maintain a muscle mass, like muscle dystrophy, where a person’s muscle progressively weakens due to gene mutations. It’s better to have an overall assessment with your doctor before putting your body in challenging situations. These professionals could give you realistic interventions that you could do to help you in preventing harm and improve your physique both internally and externally.

Have A Goal

Wishing to retain your muscle mass without doing anything about it will not take you any closer to your goal. Thus, set some realistic goals that you could work out to ensure that you’re making improvements.

Alongside reaching your goals, make time for sleep and proper rest. Once you’re getting older, sometimes it seems like getting a good rest is hard to do, but you have to work out on it since proper sleep could make a person feel rested and alert throughout the day. Lastly, consider other factors like illnesses, schedules, and strict diets when establishing your goals.

Final Thoughts

Don’t be alarmed when you start experiencing losing muscle, especially if you’re getting older. Know that it’s a normal part of human life, and you could still do some effective ways to maintain the muscle mass you have and live a healthier lifestyle.