Lose strength with age? There is something to do

With age we lose strength, and this of course bothers all of us. Even if we did not train religiously in the past and relied on the body’s abilities, we will begin to encounter actions that were considered easy and have become challenging, not to mention difficult. We lifted the first child easily at the age of 3. The second child, who reached the same age, is already starting to be difficult. Agility disappears and the ability to generate power for a particular task becomes more complex. We feel it in front of ourselves, and especially around young guys who put a mirror in front of our eyes and leave us dust.

So what happens to the muscle when you get older?

Just before we understand what happens to the muscle it is important that we understand the concepts of strength and of course the difference between them. The usual distinction is between maximum strength and burst strength. Explosive strength is a specific type of ability that is used by us quite a few times a day and is developed differently from maximal strength training. When we want to get up quickly from the couch, lift a barbell quickly or do a quick push-up, we need explosive strength. This is the type of force that allows us to move the resistance weight at the highest speed. On the other hand, maximum strength is the ability to perform these actions regardless of the work rate.

The decrease in the bursting force in the muscle is one of the most prominent signs starting at the age of 40 and it is hard to miss it because it is one of the basic conditions for our ability to perform the activities we mentioned, which are joined at a later age by walking uphill, climbing stairs and moving from sitting or lying down to standing. The problem is that sometimes it happens so fast that suddenly we find ourselves in a problem.

Good news: the decline in brain abilities is not significant

A new study conducted on the subject compared a group of adults whose average age was 23 to a group of adults whose average age was 70 and another group of adults whose average age was 86. In the test, the researchers measured the maximum force that the participants were able to generate from the front thigh muscles (quadriceps) in an explosive knee extension exercise. The researchers also examined the activity of the brain and the nervous system and compared them to the activity of the muscles themselves.

The results of the study indicated the loss of explosive power in correlation with age and no less importantly, revealed that the decline in explosive power is steeper than the decline in general power. However, it was found that the decrease in the abilities of the brain and the abilities of the nervous system is not significant, and is mainly evident in the ability of the muscles themselves. And why exactly with muscle power? The answer is not clear and the reason may be the composition of the body and the tissues that make up the muscle undergoing a process of hardening and accumulating fat cells that interfere with their normal activity. The ligaments become less elastic and there may also be a chemical change occurring in the muscle fibers themselves.

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How do you fight it?

In adapted training, or in other words – if you want to preserve explosive power, you must train explosively – lifting heavy weights and working at a slow pace to strengthen the body. To improve explosive power, we will want to work on lower weights and pay attention to a fast work rate and full ranges of motion, and in addition to that, incorporate different types of jumps. Another option is to combine lifting heavy weights for a short period of repetitions (up to 6 repetitions) at a fast pace which improves the resistance of the fibers and prepares the body to perform the action strongly and quickly.

Much has been said about the importance of strength training, and as life expectancy increases, we realize that the type of strength we want to train is also of great importance. Whatever it is, winter is a great time to start getting stronger accordingly.