Protein, Strength Training & Healthy Aging

As you age, it becomes harder to maintain muscle strength and bone health. Unless you exercise on a regular basis, muscles tend to reduce in size. When muscles weaken, you increase your likelihood to fall and possibly break bones. Fractures in the elderly do not heal rapidly and can lead to depression and an overall rapid decline in health. Resistance training can achieve a number of beneficial changes on the molecular, enzymatic, hormonal and chemical levels in your body, which will help slow down many of the diseases caused by a sedentary lifestyle. Besides strength training, the elderly can greatly benefit from balance training, which can help to prevent falls.

We are what we eat, so diet is another important factor to consider if you want to live a long and healthy life. Protein is essential for proper muscle growth and maintenance, especially for seniors. As your body becomes increasingly less able to use dietary protein for building muscle, it is important to get enough easily assimilated high quality protein.
How much protein do seniors need?

According to recent research, current dietary guidelines on protein intake may be too low for health, particularly if you’re over 50. The Current US recommendations for daily dietary protein intake is 0.8 grams/kilogram of body weight. That works out to roughly 62 g of protein per day for a 170-pound person. Some research has shown that older adults need a protein intake of at least 0.40 g/kg of body weight at each meal, which is roughly 31 g of protein per meal or 93 g per day for a 170-pound person, in order to encourage maximum protein synthesis. This represents a significantly higher amount of protein than the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) suggests.

There is an upper limit to how much protein your body can actually use. On the average, Americans typically consume anywhere from three to five times more protein than they need for optimal health, along with far too many carbohydrates and insufficient amounts of healthy fats.

While your body certainly needs protein, eating too much of it, especially if you’re eating poor quality protein, can actually be detrimental to your health. The protein can’t be stored and the body will convert it to sugar and then store that sugar as fat. Too much sugar may also fuel yeast infections and feed cancer cells. When you consume more protein than your body needs, your body must remove more nitrogen waste products from your blood, which stresses your kidneys. The result can be chronic dehydration.

Dr. Ron Rosedale is a prominent expert on insulin. He was possibly the first person to advocate both a moderate protein, high healthy fat and a low-carb diet. For optimal health, he believes most adults need about one gram of protein per kilogram of LEAN body mass (not total body weight), or 0.5 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass, which is your weight minus your body fat. A 170 pound person with 25% body fat, would then have 127.5 pounds of lean muscle mass and require about 64 grams of protein per day.

Wild caught fish, grass fed beef and dairy, cold processed organic whey protein and beans are a few examples of high quality protein.

The Importance of Resistance Training:

Resistance training or strength training is particularly important for healthy aging. Not only can it help counteract age-related muscle loss, but weight-bearing exercise is also one of the most effective remedies against osteoporosis. Loss of bone mass is a common sign of aging, because as you age your existing bone is absorbed by your body while new bone is created to replace it. In the case of osteoporosis, the formation of new bone falls behind the rate of bone absorption, leading to weakened, thinner and more brittle bones.

Strength training dynamically stimulates your new bone formation. In addition, as you build more muscle you also increase the amount of constant tension on your bones, which also helps keep them strong and resilient. Strength training also increases your body’s production of HGH, human growth hormone, which helps stimulate muscle formation.

Examples of muscle-strengthening exercises include yoga, body-weight exercises and resistance training using elastic bands and/or free weights or weight machines. The American College of Sports Medicine, the American Heart Association, and the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) recommend engaging in muscle strengthening activities targeting all major muscle groups at least two days per week.

High-intensity exercise is a great workout, which slows down your movements. One technique, referred to as super-slow weight training, is also very efficient in terms of time. You only need about 12 to 15 minutes of super-slow strength training once a week to achieve an optimal level of human growth hormone (HGH) production. Dr. Doug McGuff is an avid proponent of this technique

Remember, you are never too old to start exercising. If you’re just starting out, consider consulting with a personal fitness trainer who can instruct you about proper form and technique. He or she can also help you develop a plan based on your unique fitness goals and one that is safe for any medical conditions you may have. Keep in mind that while you need to use caution and start off slowly, but you should build up to exercise at a level that is challenging to your body.

Be on the safe side and look before you leap. If you are starting an exercise program or making your program more intense, make sure that you consult your physician to make sure that your cardiovascular system is healthy enough to attempt the program that you have planned.

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