So why is adding muscle and strength training so important as we age? For one, we want to add muscle to combat sarcopenia. Sarcopenia is the loss of muscle that occurs with aging or immobility. If you’ve ever compared a person’s skinny arm that has just come out of a cast for several weeks to their non-injured arm, you’ll have an idea of how rapidly loss of muscle can occur from lack of use. This doesn’t happen just in the extremes though. A person who does not use their muscles in their 50s as much as they did in their 40s will experience the same process. The results of this muscle loss can show up in later decades as frailty, reduced quality of life, falls, and fractures.

The best tool that we have available to maintain or improve our muscles and our functional strength is not a drug in the pharmacy, it is exercise. While cardiovascular exercise undoubtedly should be a part of your fitness plan, we cannot overlook strength training. Strengthening your muscles now will not only make your everyday tasks feel much easier right away, but the investment will also pay dividends in the future by lowering your risk of frailty, falls, and fractures in the years ahead.