According to new research, older people who have never participated in continuous exercise programs have the same ability to build muscle mass as highly trained athletes of a similar age.
This has been confirmed by a team of experts from the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom) who compared the ability of a group of participants to develop muscle mass. They analyzed two groups: people over 60 who exercised at least twice a week for at least 20 years (that is, they even continued to compete in their sports category even in their 70s or 80s), and those who did not have one. constant training routine.
They gave the volunteers a muscle biopsy 48 hours before consuming an isotope tracer drink and undergoing a weight training session and then another biopsy after finishing. The drink allowed the researchers to see how proteins developed within the muscle.
The researchers expected that expert athletes would have a greater ability to build muscle due to their superior fitness levels over an extended period of time. In fact, the results showed that both groups had the same ability to build muscle in response to exercise.
“ Our study clearly shows that it doesn’t matter if someone hasn’t exercised regularly for their entire life , they can still reap benefits from exercise each time,” says Leigh Breen, principal investigator. “ Obviously, a long-term commitment to good health and exercise is the best approach to achieving whole-body health , but even starting in middle age will help delay age-related muscle frailty and weakness.” clarified the expert.
Although they were already in better physical shape, the athletes’ bodies synthesized protein at the same rate as untrained individuals when it came to a specific resistance training exercise, says Joe Masiello, trainer and co-founder of the Focus Personal Training Institute in New York. York.
“Physiologically, younger subjects have a greater advantage in building muscle than older subjects,” Masiello said.
“ Current public health advice on strength training for older people is often quite vague . What is needed is more specific guidance on how people can improve their muscle strength, even outside the gym environment, through activities carried out at home; activities such as gardening, going up and down stairs or lifting a shopping bag can help if done as part of a regular exercise regimen, “continue the authors in the study collected in the journal Frontiers in Physiology.
How exercise works
According to the experts, the participants had these results because the body reacts to physical stress at any age.
When the stimulus is applied to the body, it makes adaptations to moderate stress. Actin and myosin are the two main proteins within muscles that are responsible for muscle contraction. They increase as we exercise, building more protein so muscles get stronger.
Exercise stress damages muscle cells or fibers. As the body repairs them, they get bigger than they were before, building muscle.
In short, the athlete’s level of experience doesn’t really matter as long as endurance or exercise is challenging.
Referencia: James McKendry, Brandon J. Shad, Benoit Smeuninx, Sara Y. Oikawa, Gareth Wallis, Carolyn Greig, Stuart M. Phillips, Leigh Breen. Comparable Rates of Integrated Myofibrillar Protein Synthesis Between Endurance-Trained Master Athletes and Untrained Older Individuals. Frontiers in Physiology, 2019; 10 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2019.01084
