Staying Healthy in Your 60s, 70s and Beyond
Sarcopenia
"People don't die of old age; they die of inactivity." It's a remarkable statement from the Godfather of Fitness, Jack La Lanne. Remarkable because in ten words, it sums up a lifetime of advice.
When you're in your 20s and 30s, muscle loss isn't much of an issue. There aren't many 20 or 30-year-olds who can't carry a bag of groceries or walk up a flight of stairs. But when you get into your 40s, you can start to lose a significant amount of muscle mass.
Aging is the primary cause and there's nothing you can do about that. Part of the aging process is losing muscle mass. As you get older, the ability to synthesize muscle protein decreases, so it becomes harder for your body to build and maintain muscle tissue.
A sedentary lifestyle is the other big reason. Today it's common for people to get up in the morning, shower, dress, and drive to work. They walk from their car to their office and sit down for the bulk of the day. Then they drive home, heat up dinner, and spend the rest of the night in front of the television or computer. Their muscles slowly waste away from neglect.
Don't assume you're off the hook because you work a physically demanding job as a server, chef, landscaper, or clerk. Those activities can keep you cardiovascularly fit, but they don't provide the kind of progressive resistance your muscles need to stay strong. Without that stimulus, you will still lose muscle mass over time.
You're probably thinking, "So what? I might be slowing down a little, but I can still do everything I need to do." You're right. It might not be a problem today. But over time your abilities will continue to decline until you cross a threshold. Suddenly you can't get up that flight of stairs. Picking up a grocery bag becomes too much. Getting out of a car requires help. You've gone from being independent to relying on others.
The loss of muscle tissue as we age has a name: sarcopenia. Prevalence estimates vary depending on the diagnostic criteria used, but research consistently shows it becomes increasingly common after 60 and affects the large majority of sedentary adults in their 70s and beyond. If you don't engage in some kind of regular physical activity, the odds are not in your favor.
If you're a woman, the stakes are higher for two reasons. First, women have less muscle mass than men to begin with, so even modest losses can have significant consequences for daily function. Second, women live longer than men on average, which means more years of dealing with the effects of muscle loss. Both sexes lose muscle mass and strength progressively after midlife, with losses accelerating after 60, but women face greater functional consequences sooner given their lower starting point.
There are also dietary considerations. As people age, they tend to eat less. If your body isn't getting enough protein, muscle loss accelerates. Current research suggests older adults need between 1.2 and 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight daily to support muscle maintenance, regeneration, and recovery. That is higher than general adult recommendations and worth paying attention to.
There is real reason for hope. Researcher Scott Trappe and his colleagues wanted to find out the minimum amount of exercise someone in their 70s could do and still stay strong. They put ten 70-year-old sedentary men through a 12-week resistance training program, three sessions per week. At the end of the program, the men had increased their strength by an impressive 50 percent, a dramatic turnaround for men who had spent years doing no resistance training at all.
Are you already suffering from age-related muscle loss?
Then half the subjects stopped exercising entirely while the remaining half continued training just once a week. The men who stopped got weaker again. The men who trained only once a week kept their strength. The message is clear: even a minimal commitment to resistance training produces results that are worth protecting.
Research consistently reinforces why this matters. Multiple large studies have found that low muscle strength in older adults is independently associated with higher rates of physical disability, increased risk of type 2 diabetes, and greater cardiovascular mortality.
A large National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey cohort study found that older adults with low muscle strength had roughly 65 percent higher risk of all-cause mortality than those with normal strength. A separate 28-country prospective study confirmed a graded relationship between muscle strength and survival in the oldest old. Low muscle strength is not just a quality-of-life issue. It is a meaningful predictor of how long and how well you live.
(This information from a review of research published in the December 2012 issue of Osteoporosis International.)
- If you start a resistance-training program early in life, you'll have more muscle mass to work with as you get older.
- It's more important for women to engage in some kind of weight training because they start with less muscle mass than men and they'll have to deal with the effects longer.
- You have to eat nutritionally balanced meals, which include enough protein, so your body has the nutrients to build muscle. The minimal amount of protein intake suggested is 1.0 to 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of weight. Older adults may need more to "maximize muscle function, regeneration and recovery."
- Even if you're in your 50s, 60s or 70s, you can make dramatic changes to your body with a good resistance-training program.
UPDATE:
Having low muscle strength makes a person two times as likely to suffer from "impaired physical function" and "age-related morbidity" as someone with good muscle strength. Low muscle strength is also "a predictor of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, and quality of life," according to a 2013 study on metabolic syndrome and muscle strength by Martin Senechal et al.
Having low muscle mass makes a person 1.4 times as likely to suffer from "impaired physical function" and "age-related morbidity" as someone with good muscle mass.
UPDATE: RESULTS
A friend (and client) sent me an email on his recent trip to his hometown. I want to share what he wrote so that you might understand both the benefits and consequences of staying active.
In the end, he thanks me, but I want everyone to understand HE is the amazing one. HE is the person who regularly shows up to exercise. HE is the one who's careful about what he eats. HE is the one who continuously challenges himself both mentally and physically.
We have the power, every single day to fight back against the ravages of time. Compare how different my friend's life is to his contemporaries.
Hi Dan
Not that I don't otherwise feel this way. But I am particularly grateful to you after little more than 24 hours have elapsed of my trip. I have seen an old friend and his wife, two beautiful sisters I used to do the charleston with, the president of my high school class and a former manager of a major rock band who was also a big show biz host.
They are all in various degrees of geriatric decline, getting new joints, limping around, recovering from heart attacks, struggling with bad backs and so forth. Next two days I dine with two once clever ladies, one a writer, the other a stage and TV performer who have lost their wits.
It is almost embarrassing to be as hale and healthy as I am. I don't say I plan to go to France for Xmas or Peru in the spring. Sounds like showing off.
I know my good fortune is not entirely thanks to you, but I believe a considerable part is. As I gaze at my frail and suffering contemporaries, I am all the more aware of how much I owe you.
So - Thanks!!
Reference Links:
Maintenance of Whole Muscle Strength and Size Following Resistance Training in Older Men
Scott Trappe, David Williamson, and Michael Godard
Journal of Gerontology: BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES November 27, 2001
Click Here for the Study: https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/57.4.B138
Decreased muscle strength and quality in older adults with type 2 diabetes: the health, aging, and body composition study
Seok Won Park, Bret H Goodpaster, Elsa S Strotmeyer, Nathalie de Rekeneire, Tamara B Harris, Ann V Schwartz, Frances A Tylavsky, Anne B Newman
Diabetes, Published June 01 2006
Click Here for the Study: https://doi.org/10.2337/db05-1183
Association of Muscle Strength With All‐Cause Mortality in the Oldest Old: Prospective Cohort Study From 28 Countries
Lars Louis Andersen, Rubén López‐Bueno, Rodrigo Núñez‐Cortés, Eduardo Lusa Cadore, Ana Polo‐López, Joaquín Calatayud
Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle, Published 2024 Oct 22
Click Here for the Study: https://doi.org/10.1002/jcsm.13619
Low muscle strength and mortality: Key risk factors in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey retrospective cohort study
Mei-Fei Hsieh, Shiow-Ing Wang, Hsiu-Fen Hsieh, Mei-Zen Huang, Hsiu-Hung Wang
Medicine (Baltimore), Published 2025 Oct 17
Click Here for the Study: https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000045284
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