If you follow me or pretty much anyone in the strength and conditioning world, you've likely heard at least something about the importance of building and keeping quality muscle. Well, now it's becoming more mainstream with November just being named National Muscle Health month! This is a GIGANTIC step for health and longevity education.

Muscle is called the organ of longevity. But what does this even mean? Longevity is defined as leading a longer, healthier life. Who doesn’t want that? As we age our body starts to lose muscle mass, a process known as sarcopenia. At the age of 35, we start to lose 1-2% muscle mass per year. By age 60 that rate accelerates to 3% per year. This is significant! Muscle plays the biggest role in longevity for many reasons… not just being strong. See below.

‍

Why is muscle so important?

Like mentioned above, muscle is the organ of longevity. It helps us to stay functionally independent and healthy.

‍

• Provides strength for daily activities
   
  • healthy, strong muscles enable everyday movements like walking up stairs, carrying our groceries and more. plus they give us the balance, coordination and      confidence to do the activities we love into our later years
 
• Improves blood sugar regulation
   
  • muscle serves as a site for glucose (blood sugar) uptake for energy, which makes us more insulin sensitive (decreased risk of diabetes and metabolic disease)

• Maintains metabolic health
   
  • muscle burns more calories than fat. so, the more muscle we have on our body, the higher our basal metabolic rate is. (reduces risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity and Alzhiemers)

• Maintains bone health
   
  • load bearing exercises (aka: strength training) are what help us build muscle. At the same time the muscles are pulling on the bones and this causes bones to regenerate stronger and more dense

 
• Supports immune function
   
  • when muscles contract they release myokines which signal anti-inflammation in the body, this improves immune function
 
• Improves balance and coordination/reduces risk of injury
   
  • strong muscles enhances balance and coordination which reduce the risk of falling.

How do we build muscle?

In order to build muscle you have to stimulate/stress the system and then you must have proper recovery to rebuild from that stress.

• Regular Exercise
   
  • 2-3 strength training sessions per week (beginner), 3-5 (intermediate/advanced)
   
  • 1-2 days per week impact training (plyometrics, sprints)
 
• Adequate Nutrition
  
   
  • protein: 1g of protein/lb of body weight/day is suggested
   
  • enough calories: you must eat enough to have fuel to recovery
 
• Proper Recovery
  
   
  • when we exercise we tear down our muscles, then we adapt to that stress and rebuild muscle tissue (protein synthesis), this rebuilding happens when we are resting and properly fueled (see above). Try to allow 48 hours between working the same muscle group when strength training)

The key with getting started with strength training is to meet yourself where you are. Start with body weight and light weight movements to dial in proper technique.Once good form is established, adopting some methods for progressive overload.That might mean using any of the below:

• Regular Exercise
   
  • 2-3 strength training sessions per week (beginner), 3-5 (intermediate/advanced)
   
  • 1-2 days per week impact training (plyometrics, sprints)
 
• Adequate Nutrition
  
   
  • protein: 1g of protein/lb of body weight/day is suggested
   
  • enough calories: you must eat enough to have fuel to recovery
 
• Proper Recovery
  
   
  • when we exercise we tear down our muscles, then we adapt to that stress and rebuild muscle tissue (protein synthesis), this rebuilding happens when we are resting and properly fueled (see above). Try to allow 48 hours between working the same muscle group when strength training)

So to recap… muscle is the organ of longevity. It is THE thing that will keep us living a longer, healthier, more independent life. It helps regulate our metabolic, bone, immune and cognitive health. Building muscle means we need to strength train!! No matter who you are!! Start at the beginning, hire a professional to help you and feel strong and able as long as you can.

Phew…I hope you’re still with me and learned a thing or two. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

‍