As we age, we lose muscle.

This has a direct negative impact on quality of life and accelerates mortality. Mobility and strength decrease while frailty increases.

Sarcopenia is the name given to progressive skeletal muscle mass deterioration and strength loss and, while it is not popular in the media like high cholesterol, it is devastating.

You can read more about Sarcopenia here and here.

This post is not just about reversing muscle loss either. Resistance training improves mood, increases energy, and builds self-esteem among other things. You feel better.

Here’s The Simple Formula

Counteracting age-related muscle loss is straightforward and makes intuitive sense. Here’s the formula:

1. Do muscle resistance.

2. Eat more protein

3. Rest.

4. Repeat 1-3 forever.

Here’s How To Get Started

Here’s all you need to get started:

First, do push ups and/or yoga. 

Push ups are a great place to start because you don’t need any equipment, they work a lot of muscles, and you can progress a ton over time. Do them two or three times per week and keep doing them. It will take you 30 minutes to an hour per week. 

Jerry Teixeira is an expert at building strength without weights and he is incredibly generous with his knowledge. 

Begin with his video where he lays out where to start based on your current strength and then provides links to follow-up videos that go into more detail for each level.

It is gold.

If you are not into push ups, then maybe yoga is more your thing. If so, start here with Yoga with Adriene. This is another free resource that is ridiculous value.

You can even mix and match. Do push ups once or twice/week and yoga once or twice/week - all in your own home. Such a no-brainer.

Second, eat more protein. 

Eat plain yogurt, eggs, chicken, salmon, shrimp, beef, pork. Whatever. Make it the first thing you eat in the day and eat lots of it. 

Here’s more about prioritizing protein.

Third, rest your body. 

Move your body often but don’t do resistance training everyday. You can have active rest days when you go for a walk, a jog, or a bike ride. 

Also, prioritize sleep. Go to bed earlier. Get rid of your phone at night. Turn off the TV. I will write a post about this in the next few weeks.

Fourth, repeat this forever. 

Consistency is the key. You might get more advanced in your workouts, adding other exercises and you might need to take longer rests when you are injured or especially tired - but the secret is to never ever stop.

Here’s a few other things to keep in mind:

You don’t need to train everyday. Two or three times/week is plenty.

You don’t need to go crazy lifting Lou Ferrigno type shit. Moderate resistance training is fine.

There is an incredible variety in types of exercises you can do. JT’s Youtube Channel and Adriene’s Channel have more than you will ever need without requiring a gym.