Ways to Maintain Muscle at 50+

Maintaining Muscle

Did you know that there is a scientific name for losing muscle mass as you age? There is and it is called Sarcopenia. Healthline.com states, “Sarcopenia literally means ‘lack of flesh’. It’s a condition of age-associated muscle degeneration that becomes more common in people over the age of 50″. They also state that “during aging, the body becomes resistant to the normal growth signals, tipping the balance toward catabolism and muscle loss”.

When you lose muscle mass, it is more difficult to do things that you were able to do when you were younger… that can get into your head and cause you to feel defeated.  

As I turned 50, I found myself standing at a crossroads. I could either accept the popular narrative that age is an inevitable decline of strength and vitality, or I could embark on a mission to defy those expectations and maintain my muscle mass well into my golden years. Choosing the latter, I embarked on a transformative journey of self-discovery and embraced various ways to maintain muscle at 50+. In this blog, I will share my experiences, learnings, and the strategies that have helped me not only maintain muscle but also revitalize my overall health.

A little background about myself.

I played football for Auburn University from around 1985 to 1989. After I graduated and completed my professional career, I knew I wanted to maintain my muscle. I felt like I was doing well at maintaining. 

Around 2005, while working out at Gold’s Gym in Atlanta, GA, I was approached by a former Auburn teammate. We exchanged pleasantries and he asked if I was still training regularly. I was shocked by his question because I felt as if I had never looked better.

We continued our conversation, and he innocently stated that I had dropped quite a bit of muscle. I smiled as if I were not shaken by his observation and we spoke a little longer before parting company.

Questions

At 40 years of age and working out 5 days a week, I asked myself, “how could this be?” After doing some picture comparisons, old verses new, it became immediately clear that from my “shoulders” to my “legs” I had lost a lot of muscle.

What was happening? What was I doing wrong? What am I going to do?

Well, I was no longer in my 20’s and 30’s, and after careful research, I soon realized that I would need to rethink my training approach and lifestyle. I learned that my testosterone levels were slowly starting to decrease.

This was making it harder for me to put on muscle, easier to put on fat, and causing me to have less vigor/stamina.  I could no longer have a “sloppy” diet with inadequate rest.  So, I changed my entire workout routine.
Here is what I did.

Workouts

Focus on compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, and overhead presses, as they engage multiple muscle groups simultaneously. Additionally, bodyweight exercises and resistance bands can be incredibly effective and safe for individuals in their 50s and beyond. In the gym I started doing more “Productive” exercises to put the BIGGEST bang on my muscle… 

 Before doing any of these movements, please be sure to wearing proper support. 

• Lifting Belt : To give your back support and to help prevent strains
• Wrist Wraps: To provide support to the wrist joint during heavy or max effort lifts
• Gloves : To tighten your grip and increases your grip strength

The compound movements that I found helped the most were:

• • Squats: These work your building your leg muscles – quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves. They create an anabolic environment, which promotes body-wide muscle building, improving muscle mass. They can also be a good all over body workout.
  • Dumbbell Presses: Dumbbell presses use your shoulders, triceps, forearms, lats, pecs, traps, rhomboids, and pretty much every muscle in your upper body . As you get older, this helps to keep your upper body and posture strong.
  • Straight bar rows :This exercise primarily develops the pulling muscles of the back, which include the lats, traps, rhomboids, deltoids and other small muscles that act on the shoulder blades and shoulder joint. Again, this helps with your back and posture.
  • Weighted Pull up’s: This exercise is not for beginners. It is for someone who has continued a rigorous workout routine over the years. I do not recommend this for someone beginning a workout routine. There are variations. You can do a regular pull up or you can even do push ups.
  • Shoulder Movements: These exercises are described in depth in the link I gave you at the beginning of the bullet point. Check these out.
  • Heavier bench press with increased sets…etc.

I started doing movements that would FORCE my muscles to grow to handle the new work load.  For the most part, I moved away from doing isolation movements like cable flies and single arm lateral raises. I would throw them in occasionally but very seldom. I also added some compound moves on machines like leg presses.

Diet

Secondly, I changed my diet. Proper nutrition is the backbone of muscle maintenance at any age, and it becomes even more vital in our 50s. I made significant changes to my diet, focusing on lean proteins, healthy fats, and a variety of fruits and vegetables. Adequate protein intake is especially crucial for muscle preservation and repair.

Supplements can also play a role, although I prefer to obtain most of my nutrients from whole foods. Omega-3 fatty acids, creatine, and collagen supplements have been particularly beneficial for my muscle health and joint support.

I ate fewer empty calories. I dramatically increased my protein intake and made sure to eat 4 well balanced meals each day. I drink two protein drinks that contain 30 grams of proteineach. I also make sure I eat high protein meals (things like lean chicken and beef cuts). Growing older forced me to understand that actual muscle growth did not occur in the gym – it happened outside of the gym with “PROPER” rest.

When you rest, make sure you try to maintain a healthy lifestyle. You need to continue to follow a healthy balanced diet as well as maintain your protein intake. That doesn’t mean you can’t have a “cheat day”. Everyone needs that. If you don’t let yourself have a break every once in a while, then you will feel like you are punishing yourself. That is not the intent of living a healthy lifestyle. Moderation and balance is the key! 

I also found that incorporating a plant-based meat meal plan into my diet gave me an even healthier variety to my diet. The nice thing is that these meals pack as much protein as animal based diets. I am not losing out on anything. A great mixture of plant-based protein and animal-based proteins keep my protein tasty and interesting.

Lastly, to compensate for lower testosterone levels and to continue burning fat, I made sure to continue my Natural Supplement stack (Black seed oil, Morgina, and Apple Cider Vinegar) with a Multi-mineral vitamin(I personally use Mega-Man by GNC).

Remember, consistency in the gym, training smart, eating lean with proper rest and supplements did the job for me and put me back on course.

Final Thoughts

Do you have some exercises that you are using to prevent muscle-mass loss as you age? If you do, please share them in the comments. If you would like me to demo your exercise, please let me know. I can make a video and post it giving credit to your contribution.

*Please consult your physician before adding or starting any new supplements and exercise programs.

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