Recently I was talking to a lady who was a Master level rower in her 60s who had been rowing competively for over 15 years. She is very active with rowing, spin classes, body pump and running. She asked me what she should be doing that would improve her strength. I immediately said, ‘deadlifts!!!’ Her response was, ‘Every time I put weight on the bar, everyone says…DON’T DO THAT’.

This just demonstrates the lack of knowledge and ability in the coach, instructor and her peers. They either don’t understand the physiology of training or have a complete lack of confidence in their own skills to coach or just plain ignorant.

So many people believe that when growing old comes, an inevitable decline in strength from being a vibrant individual to sudden feebleness. This includes feeling weak and more scarily… the loss of their independence. These declines may have more to do with lifestyle choices, including sedentary living and poor nutrition than a decline in strength.

The first image is a cross section of a 40-year-old triathlete's legs and the associated muscle. The next image is the cross section of a 74 Year Old Sedentary man legs

The 74-year-old Master triathlete's legs are not unlike that of the 40-year-old triathlete's legs. Good muscle size, low body fat.

Recently Shirley Webb was deadlifting 225 lbs (see the video here) at 80 years old. Thus proving that a sedentary lifestyle and poor nutrition is more dangerous than ageing.

Conclusion

If you want to enjoy an active, healthy lifestyle, while maintaining your independence (and able to play with your grandchildren, and hopefully great grandchildren)being active and implementing some form of strength must be a priority and become a habit throughout your life.

Read the clinical paper, Chronic Exercise Preserves Lean Muscle Mass in Masters Athletes, link to the article is here.

The study's authors write:

"It is commonly believed that with aging comes an inevitable decline from vitality to frailty. This includes feeling weak and often the loss of independence. These declines may have more to do with lifestyle choices, including sedentary living and poor nutrition, than the absolute potential of musculoskeletal aging. 

In this study, we sought to eliminate the confounding variables of sedentary living and muscle disuse, and answer the question of what really happens to our muscles as we age if we are chronically active. This study and those discussed here show that we are capable of preserving both muscle mass and strength with lifelong physical activity."

They conclude by writing:

"The loss of lean muscle mass and the resulting subjective and objective weakness experienced with sedentary aging imposes significant but modifiable personal, societal, and economic burdens. As sports medicine clinicians, we must encourage people to become or remain active at all ages. This study, and those reviewed here, document the possibility to maintain muscle mass and strength across the ages via simple lifestyle changes."