Muscle at Midlife? You Betcha! 4 Reasons You Want It and 4 Ways to Get it

When it comes to aging well, there is ample research to show maintaining lean muscle tissue is one of the biggest keys to staying healthy and vibrant later in life.^1-5We’re not talking big, body-builder, bulky muscles either – just muscle that makes your arm or leg feel firm to the touch.

If you think about it, It makes sense. Our muscles are the tissues that move us from place to place. When they weaken, our ability to get around, take care of regular day-to-day needs, as well as increasing our risk of falling results in a lower quality of life. Dr. Gabrielle Lyon describes muscle as our “organs of longevity”.

Here are some facts. Without intentional activity after age 30, women will lose between 3 – 5% of lean muscle mass each decade. This amounts to 10 – 15% of their strength each decade too! It is important to know this loss of muscle actually has a name. It is called sarcopenia.^6,7

Because sarcopenia happens slowly over time, the impact is hard to notice until our later years. Imagine being 30 and able to pick up something like an average 2 year old toddler with ease. That’s about 25 pounds. By the time you are 70, if you’ve lost 50% of your strength over the last 5 decades, anything more than about 12 pounds is all you can lift. Considering a gallon of milk weighs about 8 ½ pounds or a small laundry basket can weigh between 10 – 15 pounds, weakness like this will have a big impact on what you can pick up, carry, and move – not to mention how well you will be able to get around!

In fact, sarcopenia, when combined with weight gain has become known as sarcopenic obesity (being overweight, and under muscled) and is quickly becoming a major health threat among older adults as it is directly related to disability and comorbidities like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart disease.⁸

We don’t hear much about estrogen’s role in all of this, but because it helps to preserve lean muscle, for women in midlife and beyond, age related muscle loss is compounded by the loss of estrogen. This not only accelerates muscle loss, it makes muscle more challenging to gain and maintain after menopause.^9,10From the last year of perimenopause through menopause, without intentional lifestyle effort, women have an accelerated risk of muscle and bone loss because of the dramatic hormonal changes we experience.^{11, 12}

Here are some of the biggest reasons why we want to build and maintain muscle as we get older.

Having more lean muscle increases our quality of life.

As muscular strength increases, so does the quality of life. Strength to maintain independence and daily activity is so important as we age. Aside from being able to stay more active, muscular strength increases overall general stability and balance resulting in fewer falls. This is important because falls are the number one cause of fractures, hospital admissions for trauma, loss of independence, and injury deaths in older adults.¹³

Having more lean muscle increases our mental and cognitive health as we get older.

Not only do our bodies get stronger as we strength train, our minds get stronger too. Studies have shown mild to moderate depressions improve significantly in people who do resistance training. ¹⁴ Additionally, moderate to high intensity strength training has an overall positive effect on cognitive skills and mental function in older people as well.¹⁵

Having more lean muscle helps our bones stay strong.

We all know strong bones are important as we get older, and strong bones start with having our muscles pull on them. Weight training is one of the best ways to keep our bones strong as we get older.¹⁶

Building more lean muscle helps us burn more calories and can decrease body fat.

Muscle cells require more energy even when they’re not working. They are an expensive tissue for the body to maintain. Therefore, the more lean muscle you have, the more calories you burn all the time – even when you’re sleeping!¹⁷

So, do you want to be weak and frail as you get older, or strong, independent, and still able to care for yourself? The answer is pretty clear, isn’t it?

Before we talk about how to get strong, let’s clear up some common misconceptions among women. Yes, walking and yoga are great forms of exercise. The movement and flexibility they provide are also an important part of staying active and fit as we get older. But, a weight bearing resistant workout is what we need to continue to build new muscle fibers. Additionally, the tugging that picking up heavy weights provides on your bones will keep them strong. Body weight exercises are a great way to get started, but continuing to increase the amount of weight you can lift is the key to getting all the lasting longevity benefits of having lean muscle.

Are you ready to get strong so you can have all the benefits of having lean muscle as you get older? It is never too late! Here’s how to get started.

Find a qualified strength training professional who understands a woman’s body and can help design a program that meets your goals.

It’s not hard to find a personal trainer, but it is hard to find the right one who understands a woman’s body in midlife. The good news is that there ARE some out there, so keep looking. Many more qualified professionals have online programs now, so you can shop around and find the one that feels like a good fit.

If you are new to weight training, make sure you look for someone who

understands the importance of starting slow
emphasizes proper form to prevent injury
understands how to make modifications to help you strength train even with a problem joint or injury.

A good strength training professional will also push you to increase intensity by lifting heavier weight as you get stronger. You are a LOT stronger than you think you are and the right trainer will help you discover that.

Working out in menopause means working smarter, not harder!

If you think you have to ‘killin it’ at the gym for hours everyday to see results, you will need to rethink your ideas and any long-held beliefs around rest and recovery.

Without the support of estrogen, rest and recovery have a much more important role in making strength gains. As a matter of fact, without adequate rest, we are more prone to injury and even weight gain with too much intense exercise (of any kind) after menopause. Gone are the days when we just ‘push through’ on little sleep or ignore days off thinking that the more you do the better your results. Quite the opposite is true in menopause. In most cases less is more as long as the workouts you are doing are high quality.¹⁸

My favorite online midlife exercise physiologist is Debra Atkinson. You can read more specific information about the best way to exercise after menopause in her blogs at FlippingFifty.com

Learn how you need to change your diet.

Maybe you have heard, “abs are made in the kitchen” or “you can’t out train a poor diet”. Nothing could be more true than when you weight train in menopause. You’ll likely never see the results you want unless you are also willing to change what you eat.

As much I hate to keep pointing the finger at estrogen, without the building benefits it brings, in menopause we are more dependent than ever on dietary protein to build and maintain our muscles. The bottom line if you are strength training after menopause, it is very likely you will need to make some lasting changes to your diet in order to maintain your lean muscle tissue.^{19, 20}

One of the biggest changes you may need to consider is eating more protein in order to build and maintain your lean muscle. Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, who I mentioned before, also calls muscle “the organ of longevity” and says “ it is “the foundation of an individual’s metabolism.” I’ve gained a lot of insights about how much protein I need to be eating in order to maintain my lean muscle by following her work. You can read more specific information about the role of dietary protein as we age at Dr.GabrielleLyon.com

And finally, find some midlife and beyond women to inspire you!

Admittedly they are not easy to find. Step into many in-person gyms and you are much more likely to either find men, or women in their 20’s or 30’s. Find older women successfully picking up heavier weights and barbells? Forget it. But that’s changing and even if it’s not in your specific area, there are more and more online women to inspire us.

Here are a few of my favorites:

73 year old, Joan McDonald TRAIN WITH JOAN
84 year old, Ernstine Shepherd
In her late-50’s Debra Atkinson
And in her mid-50’s Susan Niebergall

I know there are more, I just haven’t found them yet!

What are you waiting for? Will it be easy? It likely won’t be as hard as you think. And what’s the alternative? A slow steady decline to becoming weak and frail? Nope! Not for me since I can do something to help it.

And here’s the really good news, it doesn’t take as long as you might think. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends weight training for 20 to 30 minutes two or three days a week. Wow! No more hours and hours on the treadmill, AND you will be getting the healthy benefits you want to really make your midlife (and beyond) marvelous!

References and Resources:

Muscle at Midlife? You Betcha! 4 Reasons You Want It and 4 Ways to Get it

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