What is Sarcopenia?

Sarcopenia is the loss of muscle mass and function that occurs with aging and/or immobility and is associated with falls, frailty, and mortality.  For the elderly, maintaining muscle mass and function is vital to having functional independence. 

You may be thinking, I am not old enough to worry about this.  Well, if you are over 30 then you might want to keep reading.

Sadly, sarcopenia begins as early as age 30.  You can lose 3-5% of your muscle mass per decade after that. 

Sarcopenia not only leads to a decrease in muscle mass and strength, but also a decrease in the stability of your gait, bone density, and ability to perform daily tasks.  All of these increase your fall risk and can lead to a decrease in quality of life, a decline in cognition, and depression.

To prevent/minimize sarcopenia the best thing you can do is exercise, specifically resistance training.  Diet and lifestyle habits of course, also influence our muscle mass.

Best Practices to Overcome/Avoid Sarcopenia

1.       Resistance Train Full Body Every 48 hours

2.      Use Compound Movements

3.      Ideal Lifting Load = 80% 1 Rep Max

4.      Ideal Range = 8-15 Reps

5.      Session 30-60 Min.

Published Article: Resistance Exercise to Prevent and Manage Sarcopenia and Dynapenia

Unfortunately, during the pandemic, many of us are moving much less than we used to.  According to The Journal of American Geriatrics Society, just 2 weeks of inactivity during quarantine for people over the age of 59 has been shown to decrease muscle strength by 8%.  Yikes!  We have to keep moving and strengthening!