We hear a lot about losing muscle as we get older.
And for good reason. Maintaining muscle and strength is incredibly important if we want to stay healthy, independent and active as we age.
But there is another physical ability that doesn’t get nearly as much attention.
Muscle power.
And research suggests we may lose it even faster than strength as we get older.
That matters because muscle power plays a huge role in how we actually function in everyday life.
Strength is your ability to produce force.
Power is your ability to produce that force quickly.
Think about getting up out of a chair. Climbing a flight of stairs. Catching yourself when you trip. Stepping onto a curb. Moving quickly to grab something before it falls. Playing tennis or pickleball. Getting up off the floor.
Those movements don’t just require strength.
They require you to use your strength quickly.
That is power.
Most people don’t wake up one morning and suddenly feel old.
It usually happens slowly.
You start avoiding the stairs.
Getting off the floor becomes a little harder.
You don’t move quite as quickly as you used to.
Your balance isn’t what it once was.
You stop running, jumping or moving quickly because you don’t feel as confident doing it anymore.
The less we do those things, the less capable our body becomes of doing them.
Research has consistently found that muscle power declines with age and, in many studies, declines faster than muscle strength. One long-running study found decreases in strength and power beginning by around age 40.
This doesn’t mean everything suddenly falls apart when you turn 40.
It means this is something we should start paying attention to before it becomes a problem.
I have said this for years: the goal of exercise shouldn’t simply be to add years to your life.
We want to add life to those years.
I don’t want someone to be 70 years old and simply alive.
I want them traveling, carrying their own luggage, getting on the floor with their grandchildren, walking up stairs, playing golf or pickleball, working in the yard and being able to get themselves back up if they fall.
That is a completely different definition of fitness.
None of this means strength training suddenly becomes less important.
Quite the opposite.
You need strength before you can effectively use that strength with speed.
Squats, deadlift variations, rows, presses, lunges, step-ups, carries and other resistance exercises help us maintain the muscle and strength necessary for everyday life.
The CDC recommends that adults include muscle-strengthening activities at least two days per week, and older adults should also incorporate activities that challenge balance.
But as someone becomes stronger and more capable, there can also be tremendous value in safely teaching the body to move with a little more speed and intent.
Research comparing traditional resistance training with power-focused resistance training has found that power training can improve physical function in older adults.
And here’s something important:
Power training doesn’t mean everyone needs to start doing box jumps.
That is where people sometimes misunderstand this conversation.
Power training should always match the person.
A 25-year-old athlete and a 65-year-old beginner don’t need to train power the same way.
For one person, power training might mean jumping or throwing a medicine ball.
For another, it may simply mean standing up from a bench with a little more speed while still maintaining good control.
We can use medicine-ball chest passes or slams to teach someone to generate force quickly with the upper body.
A sled can allow someone to push aggressively while remaining in a controlled environment.
Step-ups can progress from slow and deliberate to driving through the foot with more intent.
A sit-to-stand exercise can teach someone to produce force more quickly from their hips and legs.
For the right person, controlled jumping, hopping, skipping and other low-level plyometric movements can eventually be introduced. The American College of Sports Medicine notes that appropriately progressed jumping and medicine-ball exercises can help older adults train strength, balance, power and everyday movement.
Even simple exercises such as farmer carries, single-leg balance work and different movement patterns can help us maintain the coordination, stability and confidence required to move well.
The key words are appropriate and progressive.
You don’t start where you want to finish.
You start where you are.
One of the reasons I believe so strongly in this type of training is because I’ve watched what happens when people regain abilities they didn’t even realize they were losing.
Look through the Bodies By Design Results page and you’ll see plenty of weight-loss numbers.
But some of the results I’m most proud of aren’t numbers on a scale.
Blas came to Bodies By Design at 439 pounds. As he became stronger and healthier, he said he regained things he didn’t realize he had lost, including mobility and the ability to get himself up off the floor.
Today he trains four days per week and has lost 135 pounds.
That’s fitness.
Lisa came to us wanting to lose some weight, but she also wanted to stay healthy enough to continue doing the activities she loves.
She has lost weight and body fat, but she also says she now moves faster and feels more powerful on the tennis and pickleball court.
That’s fitness too.
The number on the scale matters to some degree.
Body fat matters.
Blood pressure matters.
Muscle mass matters.
But being able to do things with your body matters just as much.
The answer isn’t complicated, but it does require consistency.
Keep strength training.
Continue challenging your legs because strong hips and legs are critical for standing, walking, climbing and getting off the ground.
Train your balance instead of waiting until balance becomes a problem.
Walk, bike or perform other cardiovascular exercise so your heart and lungs stay capable of supporting everything else you want to do.
And when appropriate for your fitness level, include movements where you intentionally produce force a little faster.
You also need to continue doing things outside the gym.
Take the stairs.
Get down on the floor and get back up.
Play with your kids or grandchildren.
Hike.
Garden.
Play a sport.
Carry your groceries.
Move your body in different directions.
Your body adapts to what you repeatedly ask it to do.
Unfortunately, it also adapts to what you stop asking it to do.
This is probably the biggest message I want people to understand.
We spend a lot of time reacting to health problems.
Our back starts hurting, so we finally work on our core.
We lose our balance, so we start working on balance.
We struggle getting off the floor, so suddenly strength becomes important.
Why wait?
One of the main philosophies behind how we train at Bodies By Design is that fitness should prepare you for life.
That means strength.
It means conditioning.
It means mobility.
It means balance.
And yes, it means maintaining the ability to use your strength quickly when life requires it.
The goal isn’t to train like you’re 25 forever.
The goal is to keep training so that at 50, 60, 70 and beyond, your body can continue doing the things you ask of it.
Because one day you may not care how much weight you can squat.
But you will absolutely care whether you can stand up from a chair without assistance.
You may not care how high you can jump.
But you will care whether you can catch yourself when you stumble.
And you may not care how impressive your workout looks.
But you will care whether your body still allows you to live the life you want.
That is what we’re really training for.
Committed to your overall health,