Strength: A Deeper Dive into Understanding—and Preventing—Sarcopenia
How strong are you, and particularly your legs? Can you stand up from a low squat? If so, congratulations! You are part of the way toward significantly reducing your risk of falling, not to mention keeping your bones, muscles, joints, and tendons strong and flexible.
Health experts tell us we should be able to lift 100-150% of our body weight with our legs. Since our legs weigh 30% of our total body, we are already lifting 70% just by standing up from a squat. That means we will need extra weight to help do the rest, either in the form of a kettle bell, dumbbell, barbell, or exercise machine. Body weight on its own, even in strenuous types of yoga, is usually not enough to gain this amount of strength.
Why focus on leg strength? Because sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss and depletion) is a serious part of aging that we need to address if we are to keep or add muscle as we get older. And while we are losing muscle mass slowly during our lives, the process accelerates a great deal in our 50s and 60s and even more so in our 70s. We need to add resistance to our training program and train specifically for the purpose of keeping sarcopenia at bay. This is the only way our muscles will be able to support an active lifestyle as we get older. Muscle loss is also the primary cause of weak joints and weak bones, both of which benefit from strength training.
Strength is one of the “5 Aspects of Physical Training.” (The others are aerobics/cardiovascular, power/VO2 max, balance and stability, and flexibility, posture, and alignment.) And remember, just because there are 5 aspects of training, your body doesn’t experience them as 5 distinct parts of movement. You experience all of them as seamless and integrated and interdependent elements of how we move, part of the wonder of our evolutionary history as humans. Strength, the power to lift our own body weight, lift and carry things, and counteract gravity, is at the heart of any movement we make.
But because strength works seamlessly with the other aspects of movement, it is best to train with full-body movements that incorporate how we actually use our bodies, not concentrate on isolated body parts that musclebuilding routines typically focus on in a gym. An example of these full-body movements are the ones I did with my trainer friend Graham Fairley, movements that used my legs, torso, and upper body in a coordinated way. (I would also recommend starting strength training with a trainer just to get going and ensure you are using any equipment safely and appropriately.) A simple example of these full-body motions (illustrated in video below) is lifting a kettle bell off the floor one handed from a low squat, then lifting it over your head in as smooth and fully coordinated motion as you can, then setting it back down on the floor in a controlled and fluid manner. Then repeat 5 - 10 times. Legs, arms, chest, shoulders, and torso all get into the act, as does balance.
Did you know there are over 600 skeletal muscles in your body? The handful that we mostly hear about—glutes, hamstrings, quads, calves, biceps, and triceps—are the largest. But they are only a portion of much larger networks that include hundreds of smaller muscles and tendons, which give us the balance, intricacy, and all-over movement that our bodies are capable of.
What I Do for Strength Training
I do 2 to 3 strength workouts a week, sometimes on their own as longer sessions and sometimes after a Zone 2 workout when my strength sessions are shorter. I have a whole range of coordinated full-body movements like the one described above, augmented by weights, pulleys, or some other kind of resistance like rubber straps. Occasionally I resort to the gym machines or a barbell, mainly for leg presses. I gauge how heavy a weight, or resistance, to use by being able to do a movement 5 to 10 times, then repeating each set 2 or 3 times, to reach a pretty intense level of muscle fatigue. That level of intensity is what fuels recovery and rebuilding.
Adequate recovery is essential with strength training. It takes 48 to 72 hours for muscles to completely heal from a strength workout, and I have found that it sometimes takes even longer given the extra time that being older adds. Luckily, I can still do cardio training or train other muscle groups the day after a strength workout. In fact, Zone 2 training can be a benefit to recovery in that it gently increases moderate circulation.
So, yes, strength is one of the 5 aspects of physical training to be mindful of and to train for in order to support an active lifestyle. Think about how our favorite activities—like biking, walking, skiing, gardening, swimming, paddleboarding, tennis, pickleball, golf, or just keeping up with the younger generations—require strong legs! I know this all seems like a lot, but if it saves my joints, bones, and muscles, or at least puts off getting a new knee or hip for a bunch of years, I think the effort is worth it. Studies have shown that those who do get new knees and hips recover much faster and the operation itself is more effective if they did strength training before the surgery. And guess what the prescription is once the operation is done and healed? You guessed it, strength training! Why not do it now and possibly save those joints from ever having to see the inside of a hospital?
