Building Muscle Mass at Any Age

Here’s motivating news for older adults and those who train them. New research shows that older men, even in their 80s, can build muscle mass regardless of training background.

University of Birmingham researchers in England conducted a study to determine whether older masters athletes and untrained adults of similar age differ in their ability to build muscle mass. The research team recruited eight untrained adults and seven masters athletes and measured their muscle responses to exercise after one bout of training.

Data analysis showed that all participants had an equal capacity to build muscle in response to exercise. “Our study clearly shows that it doesn’t matter if you haven’t been a regular exerciser throughout your life, you can still derive benefit from exercise whenever you start,” said principal investigator Leigh Breen, PhD, senior lecturer, School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Birmingham. “Obviously a long-term commitment to good health and exercise is the best approach to achieve whole-body health, but even starting later in life will help delay age-related frailty and muscle weakness.”

Limitations of the study included its small sample size, the subjects all being male and there being just one muscle biopsy testing point after the exercise bout. More research is needed.

The study is in Frontiers in Physiology (2019; doi:10.3389/fphys.2019.01084).