It’s a scary statistic. You could lose several pounds of muscle per decade after age 30… and more if you diet. As a result of that muscle loss, your metabolism slows down, your risk of falls and injury increases – and do I even have to mention the dramatic decline in the appearance of your beach body?
All of that can be avoided.
According to a study in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, adding strength training to a low-calorie diet plan can help reduce muscle loss as you age.
The subjects in this 6-month study included 30 obese men and women with an average age of 70. They were divided into two groups. One group followed a low-calorie diet. The other group followed the same diet, but also performed progressively difficult resistance-training exercises.
The results were shocking. Both groups lost over 14.9 pounds of fat. However, the exercise group lost only 4 pounds of fat-free mass (which includes muscle), while the diet group lost 7.7 pounds of fat-free mass. And although the exercise group did lose some muscle, they still increased their strength by 17-43 percent, an essential defense against potentially deadly falls.
[Ed. Note: Resistance training is a good way to build muscle and increase your strength at any age. Discover new exercises with fitness expert Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training for Fat Loss program.
And be sure to share your weight-loss and fitness techniques... and get some motivation in the process... on ETR's SpeakOut Forum. Join the conversation right here.]
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