How to Workout to Fight Aging
What does it mean to age?
Most basically, you can define aging as the passage of time after the genesis of a thing.
For humans (you, presumably), why is this a problem?
Put simply, it’s because there’s an age-related decline of just about every system and structure within your body.
In this article, I will explain two of the most notable declines you should be concerned with: osteosarcopenia and the age-related decline in VO2max.
Osteosarcopenia: the age-related loss of muscle size, muscle function & bone mineral density
Sarcopenia refers to the age related loss of muscle size & function. [1]
Osteopenia refers to the age related loss of bone mineral density, eventually progressing to full osteoporosis. [2]
Osteosarcopenia refers to the presence of both of these conditions. It is a term being used more & more because these two diseases normally accompany one another and the lifestyle interventions to treat them are largely the same. [3]
In other words, you can see this as the decline of overall structure of your body.
If you’ve ever noticed that your grandmother had a harder time standing up from a chair than you, this is why.
The detriments this can have on your health & quality of life are of a greater magnitude than most people realize.
Skeletal muscle is where our bodies store carbohydrates. They’re also the organ that send the signal for greater insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake. With this decrease in muscle size, the risk of insulin resistance and diabetes significantly increases. [4]
In populations of 60 years of age or more, the risk of falls due to loss of muscle power and increased weakness increases significantly. Due to the increased weakness of the bone, risk of fracture increases significantly. [5] In many analyses, over 50% of those at this age who experience a hip fracture will die within a year, and most of the survivors will never reclaim their physical independence. [6]
If you look at the image above: you’ll notice that not only was muscle lost, but the space was taken up by fat mass. This is a problem.
Adipose tissue (fat mass) releases compounds called adipokines These serve as a low-level inflammatory signal. This is a good thing at normal body fat levels. It provides a hostile environment for any foreign bacteria or viruses we come in contact with. In states of excess body fat, this signal is amplified. Conversely, muscle releases compounds called myokines. These serve as “anti-inflammatory” signals. In many ways, these serve to balance out the effect of the adipokines.
Similar to obesity, sarcopenia tips this scale in an unfavorable direction. This leads to a chronically inflamed state, which may contribute to numerous chronic disease. [7]
As scary as that all is, here’s the real kicker: this isn’t just a problem for the elderly. These declines in function & structure start as early as 30 years old.
What to do about osteosarcopenia
As much fear-mongering as I just did, the solution isn’t too complex.
In a nut-shell: you have to train & eat to improve muscle mass & function.
Specifically, some effective interventions are as follows:
Progressive strength training
This is priority #1. This is THE signal your body needs to give it a reason to build muscle & become stronger.
Examples include squats, push ups, etc.
Power training
Strength refers to how much force you can produce; power is how quickly you can produce that force.
Examples include pogos, jumps, etc.
Protein intake
Eating enough protein is crucial to allow for optimal progression of the previous two variables.
The benefits “top out” around ~1.6 grams of protein per kilogram body mass per day (0.72 grams of protein per pound bodyweight). This means that eating more isn’t better, but eating less may be worse.
Creatine supplementation
Creatine is the 2nd most widely studied supplement (behind caffeine)
It’s incredibly effective at boosting strength & power and can enhance the progress made in your training, especially in osteosarcopenic adults. [8]
Age-related loss in VO2max: the decline of your heart
“VO2max” stands for maximal volume of oxygen. It refers to how much oxygen your body can get from the air and to the working muscles/organs.
It’s measured in milliliters of oxygen per kilograms of body mass per minute (ml/kg/min).
Starting at around the same age, 30 years old, sedentary individuals lose ~10% of their VO2max per decade. In other words, the amount of maximal oxygen they can get from the air and put to use decreases by 10% every 10 years. [9]
For true aerobic/cardiovascular exercise, the limiting factor is how much oxygen your body is able to get to the working muscles and put to use.
Think of it this way: have you ever thought about what it means to “die of age?”
Well, there’s a certain amount of oxygen your body needs to deliver to your organs at rest to keep them going.
Eventually, this age-related decline in VO2max becomes so great that your body is unable to deliver a sufficient volume of oxygen to your organs at rest.
When this happens, your body “putters out” for lack of a better word.
This is partly why your VO2max is considered the best predictor of how long you’ll live.
Furthermore, VO2max is very predictive of cardiovascular events occurring, such as heart attack. In other words, the higher your VO2max, the lower your chance of heart attack; and vice versa. [9]
What to do about VO2max
It’s worth pointing out that you don’t need to actually know what your VO2max is. It’s just worth knowing that father time will take it from you if it’s not trained.
Similar to what to do about osteosarcopenia, the answer to this is unsexy and relatively simple. You need to train & eat to build your cardiovascular fitness.
If you currently don’t do any structured cardio & are relatively sedentary, then just moving your body more can get you started.
This can take the form of increasing your daily step count, getting 2-3 walks in per day, adopting a pick-up sport (such as pickle ball) etc.
Eventually, though, you’ll need more structured cardiovascular training; ideally including low-intensity training and high-intensity training.
Practical take-homes + workout structure
Something I commonly tell pepole: the older you get, the more you need to train like an athlete.
When I say this, what I really mean is you need to develop all aspects of your fitness: power, strength, cardio, mobility, etc.
In many ways, physical fitness is THE answer to fight aging.
In my 1:1 coaching, part of what I do is create customized, effective, and efficient training programs for clients. The structure this takes looks different for everyone based on their overall goals, preferences, limitations, etc.
Nonetheless, I wanted to give you a template to use that should work for most people and are in line with the goal fighting aging and improving quality of life.
Here’s a few I’d recommend based on different number of training days in the week:
Weekly schedule 1
Day 1: Full body strength/power training
Day 2: Low-intensity cardiovascular training
Day 3: High-intensity anaerobic training
Day 4: rest
Day 5: Full body strength/power training
Day 6: Low-intensity cardiovascular training
Day 7: rest
Weekly schedule 2
Day 1: Full body power + high-intensity anaerobic conditioning
Day 2: Low-intensity cardiovascular training
Day 3: rest
Day 4: Full body strength training
Day 5: Low-intensity cardiovascular training
Day 6: rest
Day 7: rest
Weekly schedule 3
Day 1: Full body strength/power + low-intensity cardiovascular training
Day 2: rest
Day 3: High-intensity anaerobic training
Day 4: rest
Day 5: Full body strength/power + low-intensity cardiovascular training
Day 6: rest
Day 7: rest
I wouldn’t say any of these are inherently better than the others, and these definitely aren’t the only ways to go about this.
What I would say is this: do what you can, but as much as you can.
If you want this done for you, consider inquiring about 1:1 coaching with me.
I focus on helping people train & eat to promote function, health, quality of life, and athleticism; not compete in bodybuilding shows.
If those are goals that resonate with you and you’d like expert help at an affordable price, then click here to apply.
