COLUMN: The benefits of building lean muscle for all ages

IN my last column I mentioned that muscle is heavier than fat.

I received an email from a regular reader who rightly pointed out the wording of this could be misleading. What I should have said is that muscle is more dense than fat therefore you’d require a greater volume of fat to have equal weight to muscle, so a pound of muscle occupies less space than a pound of fat. Thank you Helen for your email.

So following on from that I thought it would be good to do this week’s column on the benefits of building lean muscle for both young and old.

We all know exercise is good for us, but what a lot of people don’t know is the importance of resistance or weight training.

If your workouts only focus on aerobic exercise you’re missing a key component to help your overall fitness and wellbeing.

Increasing lean muscle offers lots of benefits for everyone, and resistance training increases lean muscle mass which helps your body burn calories more efficiently and will also improve quality of life.

Fat weight loss

First of all, instead of weight loss let us be more concerned about inch loss.

The scales when doing resistance training won’t tell you the full picture as discussed above. So give yourself a dress size or waist measurement goal.

The bottom line is it is fat we all want to lose. This is the problem with fad diets – yes you’ll lose weight on the scales, but it won’t be just fat.

When you lose weight through diet alone and without exercise, in most cases you’ll be losing some valuable muscle as well.

So the numbers on the scales might look good but you won’t! As the muscle not only gives you a nice toned physique it also helps avoid unwanted loose skin and keeps our metabolism high so we burn more calories.

Increased strength to fight ageing

We lose around 10 per cent of our lean muscle by the age of 50, according to the American College of Sports Medicine.

As we reach 60s and 70s another decrease around 15 per cent per decade and around 30 per cent thereafter.

However, older adults who perform adequate resistance training can increase their strength as much as threefold within two to three months.

Increasing strength will help you lead a more active lifestyle and continue to carry out daily functional tasks that with age and deterioration would normally become a struggle.

Reduce injury risk

Building muscle doing resistance exercises can also help protect the joints from injury as we age.

It will help maintain bone density, along with aiding balance to help avoid falls. Not to mention the extra body fat it can help to keep off which can stress those joints.

The myth that women will get big lifting weights is absolute nonsense.

I get all my female clients lifting weights and once correct technique is mastered I progress the weights to what the individual would class as heavy. Females do not produce enough testosterone to build what would be considered bulk.

As long as nutrition intake is balanced and it is combined along with cardio as part of your workout routine, you will be rewarded in some great changes in body composition – a nice lean toned physique.

Resting metabolic rate

The more lean muscle you have the higher your resting metabolic rate more calories you burn even at rest.

Now there is some debate over the exact amount of calories lean muscle will burn compared to fat but it is in the region of around three times more than fat.

I think what’s important is regardless of how many it is, one thing is clear, the more active you are and the more lean muscle you have, the higher your metabolism and the better you will look, feel and function on a daily basis.

So how do we start resistance training?

Join your local gym. Gyms are for all ages shapes and sizes, nobody should feel like it’s not for them or they will stand out.

My client base is a wide variety of people, both male and female, from young to retired, and some with medical conditions.

Exercise is for everybody, however, make sure you seek advice from your GP before starting a new exercise routine and also see a fitness instructor or personal trainer at your gym.

They will design you a program to your ability and also show you correct technique which is vital to ensure your safety.

Got a question you’d like to ask Mark? Email your question to: mark@huntpersonaltraining.co.uk