I know you are well up in years, so you might be experiencing some effects of muscle wasting. If I were to pick a date for the onset of noticeable decline in my strength it was at age 60. I am currently 72 and my strength decline continues. The decline seems linear and steady. There is vivid visual difference in my physique at 60 and today. My back and arms are the most notable.
Do you have any suggestions that might halt my muscle wasting. Maybe “halt” is asking too much, but even any improvement would be welcome.
I should say that supplement wise and TRT, I am doing everything to help that makes sense to me. I am not saying that I haven’t overlooked something. But my laundry list of supplements is quite lengthy.
Yes, I’ve noticed some of the same muscle wasting that you’re referring to. Mine became noticeable at 70. And I’ve tried to stop it over the last seven years. But it hasn’t halted the processes. I’m not as strong as I used to be.
Some of my problem is that I spent too much time in my 20s and 30s trying to get my skin tanned. In the last ten years, I’ve had more than 50 skin cancers removed. I’ve lost a lot of the elasticity in my skin and I don’t like it.
Interestingly, I’m training a good friend who just turned 100. He’s remarkable. But I’m a lot stronger than he is. He says he wishes he looked like me.
Bottom Line: Declines in strength and muscle mass are an inevitable consequence of aging. It starts to accelerate once you get into your 70’s (which is only two years off for me). Strength training and other interventions can slow it down, but not stop it. It sucks, but that is the reality.
I know that age induced muscle wasting is inevitable. I am not trying to stop it. I want to throw everything there is against it. I want to slow the inevitable, not deny it exists.
There seems that there is minimal information available. I hope I am missing something. I talk with my doctor, but she just listens. I saw a list of possibilities. The one that sounds interesting is a myostatin inhibitor. But the maker of the list didn’t give its use much hope.
It would be nice to have a thread dedicated to strategies to retard age induced muscle wasting.
Losing strength and muscle and bone mass is inevitable as we age into the senior years, we can slow it down with balanced nutrition and safe strength training and aerobic exercise…but we can’t stop it
Clarence Bass looks very good for a guy in his 80’s. But even he has lost a significant amount of muscle over the years. His site has an article which talks about this. If I understand the numbers in that article correctly, between age 39 and 83, he lost about 27 lbs of muscle mass (or lean body weight), with his lean body mass dropping from 152 lbs to 125 lbs.
What I find interesting about age and it’s effect on muscles is when you see some giant guy like Arnold or Ronny and their biceps look so tiny, almost golf ball sized and high up away from the elbow.
Scott
When it comes to the weights, Richard Winett (q.v.) who is himself in his seventies, uses the word ‘meaningful’ which I find useful. Recommendations to use light weights are tempting but I need to know that I have unracked something ‘meaningful’ from the off. If it
isn’t hard it isn’t working. Of course the weight will not be what it was, but it does need to be heavy (for you), and for me that ain’t much alas.Use creatine which helps lean muscle so they say…My opinion only.
Typically the monohydrate. I have never had any side effects that were noticeable. I typically take about 7 to 8 grams of creatine monohydrate a day. I take 5 grams with about 8 grams of dextrose first thing in the morning and 2 to 3 grams added to my post-workout drink.
Yes, that look is a very odd. Arnold used to have such long muscle bellies in his biceps…now they look so short. Big gap now in elbow. Weird. I guess it’s just sarcopenia and the edges of the muscle vanish?
== Scott==
Nomad I am curious if you have been working out as you always have in your 60s up to now in your 70s or if you have altered your workouts in one way or another as you got older?
