Strength training for seniors
The men’s locker room
A naked man forever changed my understanding of strength training…
I graduated from UC Davis in 2012 with a degree in Exercise Biology. During the year and a half between graduating and beginning my doctoral studies, I worked as a personal trainer at a local athletic club.
I remember walking into the gym one day and noticing waving hands out of the corner of my eye. When I looked over, there was Dr. Jim Shaffrath, my favorite professor from undergrad. Dr. Shaffrath, who taught the core exercise science classes at UC Davis, had a passion for exercise science that was absolutely contagious.
“Klingler, follow me.” Dr. Shaffrath ordered.
So I followed him…into the men’s locker room.
We walked past the first row of lockers, past the second row, all the way to the final row.
There stood a fit man, completely naked, who looked to be around 80 years old.
“See this Klingler,” Dr. Shaffrath said while pointing emphatically.
“This is a man who has strength trained his whole life. This is a picture of a man who has beaten sarcopenia.”
The man, looked at us bewildered, no idea who we were.
This picture of a man who has beaten sarcopenia has stuck with me years later.
It’s a picture I can’t get out of my head to this day!
Centenarian Decathlon
Have you thought about what you want to be able to do in life when you hit 100-years-old?
Peter Attia developed a concept called The Centenarian Decathlon, which I think is really helpful for putting aging strong in perspective.
The Centenarian Decathlon is built on the premise that physical capabilities, often taken for granted in youth, become critical for maintaining independence and a high quality of life as we age.
The list might include items such as the following:
Getting up from the floor…
Carry your own groceries…
Climb stairs without getting winded…
Lift a great-grand-child overhead…
Balance on one leg…
Hike a mile uphill…
Squatting your bodyweight…
Do a pushup…
Jump and have your feet leave the ground…
Touch your toes…
Your list may look very different from Attia’s to reflect what is important to you.
So what’s on YOUR Centenarian Decathlon?
Whatever it is, I’ll bet it requires muscle.
Health requires muscle
So it’s not surprising that when muscle fails, we experience a host of health problems.
Our modern world designed for comfort and convenience sets up our muscles to fail.
A quarter of all American’s sit for at least 8 hours every single day.
Experts are now saying that “sitting is the new smoking.”
People who sit the most have a:
112% higher risk of diabetes
147% higher risk of cardiovascular events
90% higher risk of death from cardiovascular causes
Even if we exercise purposefully in the morning, we will spend a large portion of the rest of our days sitting.
If that’s you, you might be classified as what’s technically called an “active couch potato.”
Potatoes don’t have much use for muscles.
Even with all that sitting, due to modern medicine, folks are living longer.
In 2020, for the first time in history, the global population of 65+ year olds exceeded that of those under age 5.
Unfortunately, older age is associated with chronic disease…
92% of those 65+ report one or more chronic diseases. This includes things like heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, etc.
So although we are living longer, we might not be living healthier.
But there’s one disease not mentioned by the researchers…
Sarcopenia
The word comes from Greek and means a “poverty of flesh.”
But it also means a poverty of strength.
We lose muscle mass and strength as we age. Muscle mass begins to decline as early as our 30s. An 80-year-old man will have 40% less muscle mass than his 25-year-old self.
What’s even more scary is that we lose strength 2 to 3 times faster than we lose muscle mass. This is because we lose type two muscle fibers, which are responsible for bursts of strength and power, much faster than type one fibers, which are responsible for endurance. Losing type two fibers leads to a quicker decline in power, which is crucial for tasks like fall prevention.
More Muscle Live Longer
Having more muscle drastically reduces your risk of falling.
And if you do fall, your bones will be stronger and more able to withstand the fall.
Falls represent the leading cause of accidental death in Americans over 65. This doesn’t even count the people who die 36 or 12 months after their non-fatal fall pushes them into a downward health spiral.
There was a Chilean study that looked at 1,400 men and women with an average age of 74 at enrollment. They looked at the amount of fat-free mass or lean muscle in the limbs. After 12 years, 50% of those in the lowest quartile were dead compared to only 20% of those in the highest quartile.
Then you have the hallmark Grip Strength Study. For each 11-pound decrease in grip strength, you’re 16% more likely to die of all causes.
Muscle helps us survive old age.
But it also helps us to THRIVE in old age.
Those in the lowest quartile of muscle mass at baseline were nearly 6 times more likely to report a lower quality of life 10 years later than those in the highest quartile.
Healthspan vs. Lifespan
I’ll bet you don’t just want to live longer but to live better.
You probably know a family member who spent their last decade of life in really poor health. They might have been confined to bed, unable to move, and suffering from chronic pain or illnesses. Witnessing this decline is heartbreaking and underscores the importance of not just living longer, but living better.
Modern medicine has figured out how to extend lifespan by pumping us full of medications…that’s the little increase you see in “Med 2.0.”
But Medicine 3.0, as Peter Attia describes, involves preventative, holistic action towards our health.
In Med 3.0, we live most of our lives without any chronic preventable diseases. We live independently, actively, and able to do all the things we want to do.
In other words: Live long. Drop dead.
A crucial component of Med 3.0 is maintaining muscle and strength.
What causes muscle loss?
If you take young healthy males in their 20’s and have them walk 2000 steps instead of their normal 10,000, they lose 5% their muscle in the space of one just 2 weeks.
If an elderly person 70+ is bedridden for 10 days, they lose 10% of their muscle mass.
In other words, in two weeks, you can lose the equivalent of what can take a decade to lose.
So, it’s really easy to lose muscle.
Age is certainly a contributor to muscle loss.
But, our habits play an even bigger role.
See the picture below of a cross section of the thigh of various folks. The white is fat. The dark is muscle.
Look at the 70-year-old athlete…do they look more like the other athlete or like the other person their age?
Obviously, they look much more like the athlete.
We are more shaped by our habits than our age.
Strong at any age
But what if you haven’t been an athlete through your life?
Is it possible to build strength when you’re older?
Research shows that you can, indeed, teach an old dog new tricks.
Subjects over 85 saw 44% increase in muscle size and a 50% increases in quad strength with 12 weeks of strength training.
Others studies have confirmed these findings:
In other words, muscle wasting can be reversed.
Two Golden Rules aging strong
When it comes to gaining and maintaining muscle, there are a lot of opinions, pseudo science, and rubbish opinions out there.
In my own fitness journey, 15 years in the fitness and health industry coaching thousands of people, and reading a bevy of research, I’ve found the following two rules to be the truest.
100 grams of protein per day
40% of women over the age of 65 don't get the recommended daily amount of protein? This is a critical issue, as protein is essential for maintaining muscle mass, strength, and overall health as we age.
Rethinking Standard Protein Recommendations
The standard recommendation of 0.3 grams of protein per pound of body weight (for a 150 lb person, that's only 45 grams of protein) might be enough to stay alive…
but it’s not enough to thrive.
This minimal amount falls short of supporting optimal health and muscle maintenance in older adults.
In the Health, Aging, and Body Composition Study, researchers observed over three years that seniors consuming the most protein (averaging about 100 grams daily) retained significantly more lean muscle mass compared to those consuming the least (averaging 57 grams daily). The high-protein group lost 40% less muscle mass than the low-protein group, suggesting dietary protein is a crucial factor in reducing the risk of sarcopenia, the age-related loss of muscle mass, among older adults.
Another study showed that adding 30 grams of milk protein to the diet of frail, elderly people significantly improved their physical performance.
How Much Protein is Enough?
I recommend a minimum of 0.72 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day. For example, a 150 lb person should aim for at least 108 grams of protein daily.
100 grams a day is a good, simple, easy to remember, target for most folks.
Chicken Breast: 31 grams of protein per medium breast
Turkey Breast: 29 grams of protein per medium breast
Beef: 26 grams of protein per palm-sized portion
Fish (Tuna, Salmon): 22-25 grams of protein per medium fillet
Eggs: 13 grams of protein per 2 large eggs
Greek Yogurt: 10 grams of protein per small container
Cottage Cheese: 11 grams of protein per half cup
Lentils: 9 grams of protein per half cup (cooked)
Chickpeas: 19 grams of protein per half cup (cooked)
Almonds: 21 grams of protein per handful
The exact amount of protein you need depends on your body weight, body composition, activity level, and other factors, including age. There’s even some evidence that older adults might require more protein because of anabolic resistance, which develops with age.
If you struggle to get your protein from real foods, I recommend a supplement like Bubbs Collagen Protein powder.
2. Three Strength Training sessions each week
Research shows that any movement is better than no movement. Even a walking routine for sedentary folks increases muscle.
But only to a certain extent.
If you want enough muscle to lead to longevity, you’ll need more than walking.
Exercise and physical activity introduce stress to the body, which disrupts its equilibrium. This stress can come from various sources, such as physical exercise, inactivity, illness, or even a late night out.
The body responds to this stress through recovery, preparing itself for future exposures to similar stressors. This recovery leads to adaptation, which can manifest as increased strength, endurance, or immunity, depending on the type of stress experienced.
Training involves deliberately applying stress to achieve a specific adaptation, such as strength. Strength, defined as the ability to exert force against resistance, is essential for interacting with the environment. Even in endurance activities, increased strength makes repetitive tasks easier. Strength training, therefore, is designed to enhance this ability by progressively challenging the muscles, leading to greater strength and overall physical capability.
After a workout or “training stimulus” in the graph below, you’ll see a decrease in performance for a time. Usually 24-48 hours.
Slowly, your strength return, eventually exceeding your level before your last workout. This is called “super compensation”. It’s your body’s way of preparing for future stress by making itself stronger and more resilient. During this supercompensaiton phase, you do another workout and start the process over.
There are many different modalities that will lead to strength: bodyweight, bands, machines, or free weights. The research is clear on that.
Machines Vs. Barbells
Nothing beats the effectiveness of barbell squats, presses, deadlifts when it comes to building strength.
Think of building strength like bowling.
If you have the bumpers up on the sides, you may get a high score and be able to get strikes. But in a real game, with the bumpers down, you’ll throw gutter balls. You need to practice with the gutters down to get good at the game.
Barbell training brings together your entire body: ankles, knees, hips, spine, shoulders, elbows, wrists, and fingers. As you lift progressively heavier weights, these areas must work in harmony to maintain balance and proper form.
Barbells are also the more ergonomic way ato
Barbells allow you to grip significant weights and move them directly over the center of your feet or center of mass.
This ergonomic design ensures that you can apply small, incremental increases in stress to your entire body over a full range of motion. These increases lead to remarkable gains in strength over many years of consistent progress.
If you’re serious about getting stronger, use barbells.
One of the advantages of barbell training is its ability to engage your entire body in maintaining stability while lifting. When performing exercises like squats, deadlifts, and presses with a barbell, you’re not just focusing on lifting the weight—you’re also working to keep your body steady. This simultaneous engagement of multiple muscle groups and joints enhances overall strength and coordination.
The most “bang for your buck” barbell training exercises are as follows:
Squats
Overhead Press
Deadlift
How often?
Research indicates that increasing the frequency of your strength training sessions can lead to significant improvements in strength over time. A 2020 study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research examined the impact of different training frequencies on strength gains and found that participants who engaged in strength training three times per week experienced substantial increases in muscle strength and hypertrophy compared to those who trained less frequently .
However, the study also highlighted an important consideration: going beyond three weekly sessions did not result in proportional gains. In fact, the additional benefits started to diminish, indicating that the body requires adequate recovery time to maximize strength adaptations. Overtraining can lead to fatigue, decreased performance, and a higher risk of injury, negating the potential advantages of more frequent sessions.
Another study published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology in 2021 supports these findings, suggesting that while moderate-frequency training (three times per week) optimally balances the stimulus for muscle growth and the necessary recovery periods, higher frequencies can lead to overreaching and potentially to overtraining syndrome if not managed correctly
workout program
Sample Week:
Day 1:
Dynamic Warm Up
Squat 3X5
Deadlift 3X3
Press 3X7
Walk 30-60 minutes
Day 2:
Dynamic Warm Up
Squat 3X5
Deadlift 3X3
Press 3X7
Walk 30-60 minutes
Day 3:
Dynamic Warm Up
Squat 3X5
Deadlift 3X3
Press 3X7
Walk 30-60 minutes
The Tale of Milo of Croton: A Lesson in Strength and Persistence
In the ancient Greek city of Croton, there lived a young boy named Milo. Even from a young age, Milo showed great promise as an athlete, destined for greatness in the realm of wrestling. But what set Milo apart wasn't just his natural talent; it was his unique approach to training, which would later become legendary.
One day, as the story goes, Milo found a newborn calf lifted it onto his shoulders and carried it up a hill and back down.
The next day, he did the same thing.
As the days turned into months, something remarkable began to happen. The calf grew larger and heavier, and so did Milo’s strength. Each day, the calf’s gradual increase in weight provided just enough additional resistance to challenge Milo’s muscles without overwhelming them.
Years passed, and the once-small calf grew into a mighty bull. By this time, Milo had developed extraordinary strength, able to lift and carry the full-grown bull around the city. His muscles had adapted continuously to the incremental increases in weight, making him one of the strongest men in the ancient world.
I don’t know if this is a true story or not.
But it does illustrate the concept of progressive overload beautifully!
I reccomend starting the program above with less weight than you think.
Then, if you can do all the reps with full range of motion, good coordination, and no pain, add the small increment possible for your next workout.
Continue this process until you’ve plateaued on all 3 exercises for at least a week.
Plant your tree now
It’s typically only after we have a serious problem that’s impacting our independence and mobility that we begin to take action. By then it’s often magnitude more challenging to make progress and if you just started a little bit sooner. Best time to plan a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today.
This is someone morbid topic to think about her and decline. But not thinking about it won’t make it any less inevitable.
Take back your health,
Dr. Matt
