AGE IS JUST A NUMBER FOR HYPERTROPHY
You are never too old to build muscle. This applies for both men and women, equally.
Sarcopenia is the progressive loss of muscle mass and muscle strength as we age. This can lead to a substantial decline in functional capacity. Majority of people understand the best way to approach old age is with higher muscle mass and strength gained from a younger age through resistance training (weight training). From the age of 70, typical age-related losses in muscle mass and strength are approximately 1% and 3% per year. However, the lean mass gains of approximately 2-3% in six months, along with strength increases if 38-41%, demonstrate that these losses are reversible, at least in the short term.
PMID: 23223011
Older populations with a mean age of 60-89.5 years can find significant increases in strength in knee extension and gait speed when doing both resistance training and mixed training (resistance with cardio and/ or balance based exercises), but no significant changes with sit to stand. With both resistance and mixed training older populations with sarcopenia increase time for up and go.
PMID: 34911483
In the United Kingdom, around half of the population 65 years of age or older are expected to live the remainder of their lives, with a limiting physical or mental health condition, increasing their risk of functional disability and need for care and support.
There’s two considerations I want you to think about:
Resistance exercise or mixed exercise (resistance training with other forms of training included e.g. walking, balance etc)
Creatine supplementation (speak to your GP to check if you have high creatinine levels or have a history of kidney problems before taking creatine).
Creatine is stored in the muscle and degraded into creatinine which is then excreted in the urine, so we need to replenish 1-2g/day through the diet to maintain normal stores (hence why we have 5g scoops of creatine to load on creatine each day, as we need 3g to load the muscle cells each day and we then excrete 2). Vegetarians and vegans and individuals with low meat intake (like majority of the older population) are at risk of a deficiency. In <65 year old populations, 70% are consuming <1g/day.
Taking creatine increases total muscle creatine, energy stores, anaerobic energy capacity, decreasing protein breakdown (e.g. decreasing muscle breakdown), and increasing muscle mass and exercise performance.
Creatine supplementation improves sit to stand performance (even without resistance training and makes sense because creatine helps with short explosive movements), muscle function, and lean tissue mass. Oral creatine supplementation may counteract muscle bioenergetic (refers to the chemistry and molecular physiology of energy metabolism) failure in those at risk of functional disability, optimising their ability to perform functional tasks independently and improving their quality of life.
There are no significant adverse effects associated with creatine supplementation unless you have a history of kidney issues (with elevated creatinine levels), but the most commonly reported side effects are gastrointestinal disturbance and muscle cramps.
PMID: 38417175