Even modest strength training can counter age-related decline

By Dana Santas, CNN

(CNN) — Many people view aging as an inevitable breakdown. Muscle loss, in particular, can carry a sense of dread: the fear that our bodies will become less capable with each passing year.

The good news? You have more control over this process than you might think. The most effective strategy for fighting muscle loss is resistance training — exercise that challenges your muscles to work against force.

After age 30, adults can lose 3% to 8% of their muscle mass per decade. This decline accelerates after 60. When left unaddressed, loss of muscle can compromise your balance, metabolism, bone density and ability to live independently. Muscle atrophy can also increase your risk of falls, fractures and metabolic diseases.

Yet, too often, people don’t take steps to counter muscle loss until after a serious injury or health scare forces the conversation. But building muscle doesn’t require a gym membership or heavy weights. Exercises that use your own body weight, working against gravity, can provide enough resistance to build significant strength, especially if you’re just starting out.

By prioritizing strength training, you’re not just preserving muscle, you’re investing in a proven antiaging strategy that protects your independence, health and quality of life for years to come.

How to preserve and rebuild muscle

If you’re new to strength training, begin with simple body-weight workouts that cover upper-, lower- and full-body movements. For sedentary older adults, modified variations such as box squats, wall push-ups and seated leg lifts are excellent entry points. Focus on good form with controlled movement and proper breathing — exhaling during the exertion phase of each exercise.

Current guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend strength training at least two days per week, targeting all major muscle groups. But some research suggests that older adults may benefit from even more frequent training, with some studies showing advantages to three sessions weekly for muscle growth.

Regardless of whether you do two or three training sessions weekly, you don’t need to perform marathon workouts. Ten to 30 minutes of focused resistance exercise can produce meaningful results. Muscle responds to stimulus, and even modest strength training with consistency and effort can work toward countering age-related decline.

The key is progressive overload: gradually increasing the difficulty of your exercises over time. As you feel stronger, you should progress by adding repetitions, slowing down your movement tempo or eventually incorporating resistance bands or weights. Adding weight doesn’t have to mean jumping straight to dumbbells or other free weights. To start, consider incorporating the use of a weighted vest or ankle and wrist weights to increase resistance in any body-weight exercises, including walking. Check with your doctor or physical therapist before beginning any new exercise program.

What you eat and how much you rest matters

To build muscle, you need the right fuel. Protein intake becomes increasingly important with age. Research suggests older adults need more protein than younger people for effective muscle protein synthesis, the process your body uses to build and repair muscle tissue. Aim for 1.2 to 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight daily, spread across meals. That’s roughly 80 to 110 grams for a 150-pound person.

Food quality is important, too. Since chronic inflammation interferes with muscle maintenance, your food choices can either support or undermine your progress. Emphasize whole foods such as lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, whole grains and healthy fats while limiting ultraprocessed foods, which tend to promote inflammation.

Muscle building doesn’t happen while you work out — it happens while you’re at rest. Without adequate recovery, your body cannot repair the microscopic damage from training or build new muscle tissue. Aim for seven to nine hours of quality sleep each night, and allow at least 48 hours between training sessions that work the same muscle groups. Rest days aren’t wasted days; they’re when your body gets stronger.

Why muscle matters more than you might realize

Muscle tissue does far more than help you lift groceries or climb stairs. It’s metabolically active, meaning it burns calories even at rest and plays a crucial role in regulating blood sugar. When you lose muscle mass, your metabolism slows, making it easier to gain weight even if your eating habits haven’t changed. Your body also becomes less efficient at managing glucose, which increases your risk for insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

Greater muscle mass is associated with better insulin sensitivity and lower diabetes risk, independent of body fat, according to a study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. When you move, your muscles pull glucose from your bloodstream to fuel that movement — and they continue doing so during recovery. This is why maintaining muscle mass is essential for blood sugar control and weight management.

Muscle also supports bone health. When you perform muscle-building, resistance exercises, the mechanical stress signals your bones to maintain or increase their density. Strength training becomes critical with age, as bone loss accelerates alongside muscle decline. Exercise can increase bone mineral density in postmenopausal women and older adults, reducing fracture risk, and high-intensity resistance training is one of the most effective activities for improving bone health, studies have shown.

Perhaps most importantly, maintaining muscle preserves your functional independence. Strong muscles stabilize your joints, improve your balance and give you the capacity to recover if you stumble. Research shows that grip strength serves as both a simple measure of overall muscle health as well as a powerful predictor of mortality and disability in older adults.

What causes muscle loss?

Age-related muscle loss is called sarcopenia, and it isn’t just about aging — it’s a combination of biological changes and lifestyle factors. As you grow older, your body becomes less efficient at building new muscle, a process called muscle protein synthesis. Hormonal shifts, including declines in growth hormone and testosterone, also play a role.

Inactivity accelerates the process dramatically. If you’re sedentary, you lose muscle faster. And if you’re not consuming enough protein, your body lacks the raw materials needed to maintain muscle tissue.

Chronic low-grade inflammation, which increases with age due to factors such as cellular damage and immune system changes, interferes with your body’s ability to maintain muscle mass. So does poor sleep and unmanaged stress, both of which hinder recovery and tissue repair.

But here’s the encouraging part: Training to maintain and build strength creates a positive cascade. Regular resistance exercise has been shown to reduce chronic inflammation in aging adults, improve sleep quality and lessen anxiety and depressive symptoms in older adults.

Muscle loss isn’t an inevitable part of aging to be feared — it’s a challenge you can meet so you can continue to stay active in your golden years.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.