The champion’s prescription for sarcopenia

Sarcopenia is one of the issues that people who live to an advanced must deal with in order to maintain a good quality of life.

Sarcopenia is the age-related process of losing muscle mass that begins around the age of 40.  Sarcopenia involves both the loss of the size of the muscle fibers and actual tissue loss.

Over time, the process accelerates if left untreated.  Once the tissue has been lost, it is virtually impossible to replace it.

As a result, it can greatly impact your quality of life by reducing your ability to perform normal tasks such as carrying groceries and climbing stairs.

If left unchecked, it can lead to the loss of your independence and the need for long-term care.

Sarcopenia is a major factor in increased frailty, falls and fractures.

These conditions can lead to hospitalizations and surgeries, which in turn open the door to potential complications, including death.

Sarcopenia occurs as a result of changes that occur in the body over time.

One such change is the reduction in the amount of protein the body will synthesize.

Also, there tends to be a reduction in the amount of testosterone and insulin growth factor produced by the body.

These issues lead to smaller muscle fibers.

Some of the major symptoms resulting from sarcopenia include…

• Loss of stamina
• Difficulty performing normal activities
• Slow movements
• A decline in balance
• Decrease in muscle size

While aging is the primary factor that brings about sarcopenia, there are other risk factors that can make the condition worse, including…

• Physical inactivity
• Obesity
• Chronic disease such as diabetes, COPD, kidney disease and cancer
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Insulin resistance
• Reduced hormone levels
• Inadequate nutrition

The Champion of Aging prescription for sarcopenia

The good news is that you can slow and even reverse the process of sarcopenia depending upon when you get started.

How?

Strength training/muscle building, increased daily activity and proper diet.

Even if you are in your 50s or up to mid-60s, you can still put on significant muscle mass.

This ability diminishes over time, particularly among sedentary people.

However, even if you have been sedentary, or simply never did any strength training, you can gain significant strength at an advanced age.

I’ve seen trainees begin after 80 and improve their strength quite a bit, and that allows them to maintain their independence.

However, if they had started much sooner, they would be much stronger and likely able to perform activities besides just those in their daily routines.

Therefore, if you are closing in on 60, you will want to get started on a legitimate strength and muscle building program ASAP.

The Champion of Aging prescription for sarcopenia involves training compound movements with barbells to build general overall strength, and combine this with assistance exercises to focus on building muscle.

Strength training generally involves training with heavier weights with fewer repetitions, usually in the 3 to 5 rep range.

The lifts typically involve the squat, deadlift, bench press and overhead press.

A new trainee will not start out with heavy weights initially as they are focused on learning the movement patterns of the lifts.

The goal with this training is to consistently add weight, and the trainee’s body adapts by building some muscle and strengthening the bones and connective tissue.

The assistance exercises are typically trained with lighter weights and higher repetitions and usually target one or two muscle groups at a time.

Chin ups, bar dips, lat pulldowns, lunges, curls and a variety of dumbbell and cable exercises can be employed in such a program.

This type of training seeks to stress particular muscle groups with higher reps with less rest in between sets.  The body then adapts by creating more muscle.

Starting out, the focus should primarily be on the big four exercises to build as much strength as possible over a period of four to six months.

This will then make it easier to build muscle with the other assistance exercises because the trainee will be lifting heavier weights with those exercises.

A typical new trainee will start out with a program that looks like this…

Train Monday, Wednesday and Friday

Workout A – Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift

Workout B – Squat, Overhead Press, Deadlift

For each of these exercises you do working sets of five reps after completing several warm-up sets.

Except for the deadlift, you would perform three working sets.  For the deadlift, one working set of five reps is all that is needed.

Initially, the new trainee will rest from two to three minutes between sets.  As the training becomes more difficult, particularly for the squat, the rest time will go up to four to five minutes.

This is the initial strength training model developed by Mark Rippetoe of Starting Strength.

The assistance exercises are typically performed for multiple sets with anywhere from 8 to 20 reps, and usually with a rest time of one to two minutes, depending upon the exercise.

This overall approach that combines strength training with bodybuilding routines is often referred to as “power building.”

The diet prescription for sarcopenia

Because the exercise portion of this prescription for sarcopenia involves power building, it will be necessary to make adjustments to your diet if needed.

The primary adjustment involves consuming more protein than what many potential champions of aging are used to.

This is discussed within our Principles of Diet and Nutrition article, but the general approach is to consume of about 0.75 grams of protein per pound bodyweight, and possibly more for trainees over 60.

This is due to the reduced ability of the body to synthesize protein as we age.

Overweight trainees may also need to cut back on their consumption of carbs and fat in order to be sure their total calorie intake is in the range that allows them to lose fat.

Final thoughts

The best way to deal with the menace of sarcopenia is to get started with a legitimate training program that involves a mix of barbell exercises and assistance exercises and proper diet.

This will require a good deal of effort and planning on your part.

You’ll need to schedule time in the gym, whether at home or at a commercial gym, and you’ll need to focus considerable attention on your diet.

The key to dealing with sarcopenia is that you’ll need to adopt the right mindset and be consistent with your training.

You now have a great general prescription for sarcopenia.

Now, get to work!