Tag Archive for: strength

Preventing Muscle Loss

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This final installment on muscle focuses on keeping the muscle mass you’ve got. That’s one of the keys to living every day you’re alive: the ability to move at every age. There are three things that are important to hanging onto muscle.

  • Use it or lose it. Actually, you’re going to lose it not matter what, but the degree to which you will is partially dependent on using it. Whenever you can take the stairs, take them. Whenever you can lift something, lift it. While I would hate it personally, it was better when we had to get up and actually walk to the television to change the channel. More today than ever, we don’t take the opportunity to build muscle or increase stamina.
  • Exercise regularly. No matter your age, there’s always something you can do. Orthopedic issues happen as we get older—arthritis in hands, shoulders, hips, and knees, or torn ligaments and cartilages. They can all put limitations on what we can do. We have to work within those restrictions and do as much as we can to maintain and even increase what we have. A session with an excellent physical therapist (ask your doctor if you qualify for some free sessions) or certified personal trainer could be worth the money. It’s never too late to begin. Research has shown that even people over 100 years old can increase strength and stamina.
  • Consider taking essential amino acids every day. While the focus has been on what EAAs can do for people who train hard, the bulk of the research has been done on people 50 and older. It’s clear you can slow down muscle loss and increase muscle strength by exercising regularly and taking EAAs every day. I’ve been taking them the days I lift, but I’m considering taking them every day. In continuing to research the benefits, there doesn’t seem to be a downside to taking EAAs. There’s some preliminary research that indicates that taking EAAs may even be beneficial for pre-diabetics to reduce insulin levels and triglycerides if they exercise regularly as well.

The purpose for the month’s Memos is showing you how to learn to live every day you’re alive. Muscle is critical to that goal. We’ll move on to another important physical component of living next week.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Skeletal Muscle: Strength

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This week, we’re turning our attention to skeletal muscle. Skeletal muscle allows us to move and to lift ourselves and other objects. The two primary features are strength and stamina. Let’s begin with strength.

A simple definition of strength is the most weight you could lift once. That could be as little as a couple of pounds, or it could be as much a thousand pounds as some weight lifters have done. To me, as a minimum, strength is the ability to be able to do everyday tasks. We’ll start with the most fundamental, which would be sitting down in a chair or on a commode and then having enough leg strength to stand up. It would be enough to be able to lift a bag of groceries. To lift a hammer to hit a nail. To hold a hair dryer over your head while you do your hair. You can probably think of a few more.

Years ago, I mentioned to my mother-in-law that most women over 65 can’t lift 10 pounds. We lose strength as we age. She had just gotten back from grocery shopping and she picked up a 10-pound sack of flour. She began lifting it up over her head and back down to her lap and said, “Look Chet, I can do that!” She was in her mid-seventies at the time.

Strength can vary by body joints. With two torn biceps, I don’t have nearly the strength in my arms and shoulders as I used to, but I still have pretty good leg strength and pretty good back strength; my exercise routine includes strength training for all those areas.

How do you increase strength? Challenge the muscles to lift more weight than you currently can for any different set of muscles: your shoulders, your arms, your quads, your calves, and of course, there’s your core. I’ll save that for later in the month. Next time, we’ll take a look at muscular stamina.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Move Up to Interval Training

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Recently I watched an interview with the cast and production staff of the third John Wick movie, which will be released soon. What struck me was the physical preparation to do the action and fight scenes. When the third installment of the movie was announced, Keanu Reeves shouted to himself. “All right. It’s time for John Wick Training!” He worked more than six months for six to eight hours per day on physical training specific to the fights and action scenes that were going to be in the movie, and he uses stunt doubles very rarely—it’s all up on the screen. Halle Berry, who’s new to the series, jumped at the chance to do that training as well. I can’t wait.

You and I don’t have the hours in the day to do that type of training, but we can do better than we are right now. Interval training seems to have become a mainstay of fitness recommendations. I’ve used it for years to increase my fitness level. It’s stressful because the effort is so hard, but you can adjust the effort to where you are today.

Check out the Health Info titled Interval Training. It explains the concept and how to construct your own interval program. If you want to take it one step up in intensity, check out the Spartan Workout that combines strength with endurance interval training.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

What Do Tests Tell Us?

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Based on last week’s push-up challenge, many of you have emailed me to let me know how you did. No matter how many or how few push-ups you did, it’s a start that can help you increase your muscular strength and stamina. All you have to do is to continue to do them as part of your exercise plan.

You may have seen an article in the Washington Post that examined another test associated with increased mortality. The idea is that you’re supposed to start by standing and then lower yourself to a sitting position on the floor with your legs crossed; then rise again. You start with 10 points and deduct one point every time you have to use your hands, arms, or sides of your legs while getting up or down. The fewer the points, the higher your risk of dying sooner.

I’m a dead man if that’s the case. I couldn’t get down because my knee couldn’t handle the stress, hands or no hands; Paula has two bad knees, so she’s out of luck, too. If you can’t get down, you can’t get up.

Maybe you couldn’t do any full push-ups. Are you toast as well?

Understand what the tests mean. If you have strength, you’ll have better balance. If you’re flexible, that helps with core strength and also balance. Stamina indicates you have aerobic fitness. These all speak to your quality of life as well as your cardiovascular fitness, and those are associated with living longer. The simple tests provide a snapshot of where you stand in relation to other people 50 and older. If these tests don’t play to your strengths, there are other tests to assess your strength, flexibility, and balance; don’t give up until you’ve tried those.

Want to live longer? Make fitness a part of your everyday life. Maybe you’ll live longer, maybe not, but you’ll have a better quality of life in however days you live.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Can We Prevent Sarcopenia?

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Based on the research presented in Thursday’s Memo, the earlier we address the possibility that sarcopenia will affect us, the more likely we’ll succeed (1). I use fudgy words such as “likely” because we don’t know for sure, but based on the current status of research, here’s what we can do to prevent sarcopenia.

Use It or Lose It

In the study I talked about Thursday, the men who exercised regularly had a lower rate of decline in muscle function. The researchers speculate that chronic exercise helps preserve the motor units, thus preserving the ability of the nerve cells to send out nerve fibers to attach to muscle fibers.

That’s all well and good, but how can we make sure that we preserve the potential and perhaps increase our motor unit activity if we’ve lost some? Research shows that weight training will help. In several studies, resistance training increased muscle strength in the elderly; strength will improve balance and quality of life.

What kind of exercise will work best? It seems to be high intensity exercise. In a study on elderly mice, high intensity interval training (HIIT) increased the muscle mass, muscle fibers, and the number of mitochondria (2). This was a small study and it was on rodents, so the application to humans isn’t assured. To me, it means use your muscles as you mean to keep using them. The harder you exercise within your physical limitations, the better.

Focus on Protein

Retaining muscle mass is not only about exercise. For some reason, as we get older, we decrease our protein intake, but research shows that increasing protein intake can help retain muscle mass. If you don’t have protein in muscle cells, retaining or adding connections to those cells won’t matter much.

How much protein should people try to get? The current recommendation is 0.8 grams per kilogram body weight per day or a third of a gram per pound body weight; someone who weighs 200 pounds would need about 66 grams of protein per day. But research shows that bumping that up to 1.1 grams per kilogram body weight or a half gram per pound may be better as we get older. That’s 100 grams for a 200-pound person (3). That’s easy for even those who are math-challenged: whatever your goal weight, divide by 2, and that’s your daily goal for grams of protein.

It also seems better to stretch protein intake out throughout the day rather than a big slug at one time. Balanced intake will produce a sustained level of amino acids available for muscle repair throughout the day.

The research is far from complete in this area but it seems that as we age, our protein needs revert to when we were younger: we need more of it.

The Bottom Line

Sarcopenia can result in loss of strength and mass, but more important is the loss of quality of life. We don’t think balance while standing or moving is important until we fall; we don’t think brute strength is important until we need to move something and can’t. This week’s Memos give you an idea of how to prevent and perhaps improve nerve and muscle function.

Don’t think this is for only retirees; once you hit 40, it’s a downward trend. Starting early may help minimize the decline. One thing is clear: if you expect to be mobile when you get older, you need to work on it earlier rather than later.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

References:
1. J Physiol. 2018 Mar 11. doi: 10.1113/JP275520.
2. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2018 Mar 14;73(4):429-437.
3. Nutrients 2018, 10, 360; doi:10.3390/nu10030360.

 

Research Update on Sarcopenia

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We know what sarcopenia is, but what can be done about it? Recent research may give us a clue.

Researchers in the United Kingdom examined a variety of variables related to sarcopenia in a group of men. Remember, a motor unit is a nerve and all the muscle fibers to which it attaches. They looked at the differences between the size of the motor units and the total units between 48 young men, 13 non-sarcopenic elderly men, 53 pre-sarcopenic, and 28 sarcopenic men.

The motor unit potential was greater in non-sarcopenic and pre-sarcopenic men than in young men. Why would that be? The researchers suggested that the nerves are still sending out nerve shoots trying to recruit more muscle fibers. This was not the case with the sarcopenic men; their motor unit potential was much lower. That could mean that once connections are lost, there’s no way to recover muscle function including strength.

While the researchers could not answer that final question with certainty, it’s apparent that preventing potential motor unit loss is critical. How? We’ll talk about that on Saturday.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet
Reference: J Physiol. 2018 Mar 11. doi: 10.1113/JP275520.

 

So You Lose a Little Muscle—So What?

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Any of my former students who read the Memo should remember the following definition quite well:

A motor unit is a nerve and all the muscle fibers to which it attaches.

It’s called a unit because both sides of that equation are important. Muscle fibers contract when stimulated by a nerve. Reduce the number of fibers that the nerve can attach to, and the muscle won’t generate as much force. Losing a little strength is no big deal, right? How about walking up a flight of stairs? Or even being able to maintain balance while standing? Yes—it’s a big deal.

Sarcopenia is the progressive loss of muscle strength and function as people age. How much loss? Just look at the picture from the Journal of Physiology: the loss of muscle is obvious and with that, a loss of function. Let that sink in. I’ll talk about whether anything can be done about it the rest of the week.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Reference: J Physiol. 2018 Mar 11. doi: 10.1113/JP275520.