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Preventing Muscle Loss as We Age

nytimes.com

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Re: Preventing Muscle Loss as We Age

#101

Post by matwood »

Kirth wrote: post #85
stochastic_monk wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m 29 now. I started lifting at 26, but finally got proficient and rigorous about a year ago. The biggest key was learning to eat more because my body’s metabolism was low because I wasn’t eating enough. I went from a 2000 calorie maintenance to 3000 in about 6 months.

Did you find it hard to increase your calorie intake? This is something I've been struggling with for a while. Especially since I don't deal well with lactose getting in enough calories and protein can be a bit daunting. What are your "trick foods" that contain a good amount of calories but are good to eat?

Peanut butter snacks during the day. I used to set alarms that would go off during the day. When they went off, I'd pull out a jar of PB and eat a few spoonfuls with crackers.

Second dinner. Eat your first dinner early, and then eat a lunch sized snack right before bed. When I was gaining, this usually consisted of a turkey or roast beef sandwich.

Know that I was almost never hungry. I ate on a schedule, and tracked everything I ate.

Re: Preventing Muscle Loss as We Age

#102

Post by jgrahamc »

Strength training has worked well for me. I was diagnosed with osteopenia aged 40 and was told the solution was either weird osteoporosis drugs usually given to women or strength training. I restored my bone density to well above average for my age with the three big lifts. Didn't do it to get big or shredded, but it worked.

Re: Preventing Muscle Loss as We Age

#103

Post by gdubs »

madeuptempacct wrote: post #68
stochastic_monk wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t do paleo or low carb or any fancy diet besides eating plenty of protein and calories. The key for me is regular, heavy strength training. I exercise 3-6 days a week, all compound lifts, at high weight/moderate (3-7) reps. More than just managing my physique, I find it immensely helpful for my mental health and general well-being. I’m not the biggest or most shredded guy in the gym, but the focus on strength k…

I can't handle more than 3 days a week at the gym. I do my main lifts only once a week or I don't recover, but I am still getting stronger on my program. I have been lifting for more than a decade though. I do cardio and lift on the same day, I also can't run every day or I don't feel great. On off days, I just walk and do minor accessory stuff. Can't imagine lifting like this every day.

I believed I was susceptible to overtraining for most of my life. N=1 and all that, but I made an effort to consume more protein and switched to a higher volume program and have had much better results (and I bike to work ever day).

One important aspect is that I de-load every couple of weeks when the volume starts to really wear on me. (I’m also vegetarian.) Most of my “program” is from Charles Poliquin’s writings.

Re: Preventing Muscle Loss as We Age

#104

Post by deskamess »

amorphous wrote: post #77
andy_ppp wrote: post #48

I can't recommend StrongLifts enough. https://stronglifts.com I'm up to squatting 130kg now and feeling great!

The problem with this training is the need to go to a gym or to build one at home. Can't do the latter and loathe going the gym. However, I do enjoy group classes. I tried cross-fit but I found that the competitiveness and exercising against a running clock is not for me (also considering that I'm usually the oldest - 48 though I don't look like it) Then I heard about kettlebell training and that seems to be exactly…

In your age group and do some HIIT and Cardio Mix. I do not know much about kettlebells, so what is the ROI on it? I know it can be hard to answer that, so just your personal feelings on how it benefited you would help. I am trying to get some weight training added to my mix and that is the reason for my asking.

Thanks.

Re: Preventing Muscle Loss as We Age

#105

Post by chillingeffect »

andy_ppp wrote: post #48

I can't recommend StrongLifts enough. https://stronglifts.com I'm up to squatting 130kg now and feeling great!

I started about 3 months ago thanks to a comment on HN!

I told a trainer at my local gym I wanted to do the 5x5 program and he knew exactly what I wanted, but added a 6th exercise. He's been training my form, teaching me what to do to avoid exercise-induced nausea and so on.

Re: Preventing Muscle Loss as We Age

#106

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

chillingeffect wrote: post #94
christophilus wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeesh. That's a great visual. I'm a sedentary software engineer... gotta make some changes. It reminds me of the cancer slides in the "How Not to Die" talk https://youtu.be/7rNY7xKyGCQ?t=780 which is partly why I'm now vegan.

definitely start a sit/stand desk as early as possible. I didn't think I was that unhealthy sitting all day until I had an injury from a car accident which took waaay too long to heal - primarily bc my hamstrings and IT band were shortened from all that sitting! when i left my last job, I started working from home without the sit/stand for about 2 weeks thinking "that didn't help that much," until I started noticing…

Do you have a pad for under your desk? I find that I can't just stand all day without getting stiff either.

Re: Preventing Muscle Loss as We Age

#108

Post by matwood »

rohunati wrote: post #42
matwood wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people have no idea I'm 41, and instead think I'm in my 30s. Balding and grey hair show I'm not in my 20s ;) My 'secret' is I workout every single day . I might do heavy weight training, sled pushing, surfing, or a spin class. It doesn't matter as long as I do something physically challenging. I also follow an 80/20 rule on eating paleo-ish. Mainly I try to avoid processed foods, but I'll still eat a pizza or go…

Curious about your breakdown between heavy lifting vs. cardio. I find that I can't do more than 4x/week of heavy lifting, so I've been trying to run (or something else) on the remaining 3 days.

Recovery is a thing, but I find most of us non-athletes as a job can do way more than we think. I lift heavy 3-4 times/week. Cardio 2-3 days/week. Sometimes I might lift heavy at 6am and then do cardio at 6pm depending on my schedule.

If I show up at the gym and really feel lacking, I do a different muscle group. If I show up to the gym and I'm supposed to do bench, but I'm hurting - squat instead. Squats struggling? Do a pull up workout (I'm trying to get to 500 pull ups in a single workout). Whole upper body hurt? Push the sled around. Or do a full body weight workout which acts more as an active recovery.

There are a limitless amount of things that can be done.

Re: Preventing Muscle Loss as We Age

#109

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

amelius wrote: post #44
lysp wrote: post #14

I always like to show this picture as an example. https://i.imgur.com/ZcDedfo.jpg I don't have an original source but it shows a MRI leg scan comparison between a 40yo triathlete, a sedentary 70yo and a 70yo triathlete. The picture tells the story...

You should also show the brain scans of the triathlete versus a sedentary computer programmer.

How smart do you have to be to out-think a heart attack?

Re: Preventing Muscle Loss as We Age

#110

Post by saiya-jin »

n4r9 wrote: post #97
saiya-jin wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In similar state here - working out almost daily, weekends are reserved for mountains in whatever form (that's actually one of my motivations to work out - to enjoy adventures however difficult they might be ,and be as safe as possible). Having to stop working out, either due to illness, injury or some obscure travelling makes me almost depressed, not only because of the drop experienced once coming back to gym. It i…

> I stopped using massages to work on those muscle bumps/knots on the back - no point getting rid of them when I put them back in 2-3 days. I spend a few minutes per day rolling my back out with a hard foam roller: https://www.decathlon.co.uk/hard-foam-roller-id_8484814.html As good as a massage for getting knots out, and great for thoracic mobility. > Quality of the meats in general is important (no growth hormones/…

Bacterial resistance in animals is a topic on its own (which I believe will bite us back in not-so-far future), and I don't believe for a second that the chemicals cattle is fed don't end up in the final meat on the plate in substantial concentration. There is no magical process that somehow removes them from deep tissue.

Now somebody can claim consuming animal growth hormones or strong antibiotics regularly can do you no harm, but I wouldn't believe this person. I prefer to not be part of long running experiments involving few billions of involuntary participants.

Quality of the meat, at least taste-wise, is probably unaffected by these. Much higher effect has caging/free range/wild, shocks and stress animal has to go through life, particularly at its very violent end.

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