At Leyton Osteopaths, we’re always looking for ways to help you feel your best—today and in the years to come. One key factor in long-term health that is often under appreciated is muscle mass.
We often discuss muscles in relation to rehabilitation, preventing injury and
protecting joints. But did you know, there is a strong connection between your muscle mass and how long you will live?
As we age, the natural decline in muscle mass (which begins at approximately 30 years old) becomes a major factor in determining how we age.
The Role of Muscle Mass in Longevity
Muscle mass plays a vital role in supporting nearly every aspect of health, and it’s not just about looking good or being strong. Having a healthy amount of muscle is linked to improved metabolic function, bone density, cardiovascular health, and even cognitive function, all of which contribute to a longer life.
Strong muscles provide the foundation for physical independence, mobility, and resilience, especially as we get older.
Preventing Frailty and Disability
As muscle mass declines with age, the risk of frailty, falls, and disability increases. Maintaining or building muscle through regular strength training helps protect against these age-related declines, allowing you to stay active and independent for longer. People with more muscle mass tend to experience fewer health complications, better mobility, and an overall higher quality of life in their later years.
Reducing the Risk of Chronic Diseases
Muscle mass is also linked to a lower risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and osteoporosis. Stronger muscles improve insulin sensitivity, regulate blood sugar, support healthy bone density, and boost heart health—all critical factors in extending life expectancy.
The Bottom Line: Strengthening for the Long Run
There are many short term benefits to building muscle, you will look better and feel better. But the long term benefits are even greater, you are setting yourself up for a healthier future, gaining more years of vitality and independence.
It is never too late to start, but remember, the decline in muscle mass starts at about 30 years old, so the earlier you start working on it the better.
Building Muscle
Having established the many benefits of increased muscle mass we will look more closely at how we actually go about building muscle.
- Resistance Training: To make your muscles grow you need to challenge them, they need a force to resist. That can be achieved using weights, kettle bells, machines, resistance bands or even just your own bodyweight.
The goal is to create a challenge for the muscles by using an appropriate weight or resistance that pushes them beyond their normal limits. If you can easily do 50 push ups, you will NOT build muscle by doing 10 of them. If you struggle to do five push ups, but you make yourself do them several times a week, your body will adapt, you will grow more muscle and before you know it you will be able to do six. - Rest: Through your resistance training you will create small tears in the the muscle fibres. It is in the repair of these microscopic tears that muscles grow in size and strength. Having appropriate rest is important in this process. As a general rule, don’t work the same muscle groups on consecutive days. Getting good quality sleep is also important.
- Nutrition: You have done the training, you are getting quality rest, now you need to ensure that you are getting the appropriate nutrients to allow your body to heal and grow. Most important for muscle growth is protein intake. Protein is the building block of muscle tissue, adequate protein consumption is therefore essential to muscle repair and growth. Aim for 1.2 - 2 grams of protein per kilo of bodyweight per day (if you weigh 75kg, that translates as 90g-150g of protein daily). If that sounds too complicated, just focus on eating a little bit more protein. There are great sources of protein to suit all kinds of diets. Protein powders can help if you struggle to get enough from your diet but are in no way necessary.
- Progression: Once your muscles have adapted to the stress you have put them under with your resistance training they will stop growing. Therefore, if you want the muscles to continue to grow you have to make them work harder. When lifting weights, this usually involves lifting more weight or performing more repetitions. If doing bodyweight exercises, you can increase repetitions or you can change the exercise to make it more difficult. For example, instead of doing regular bodyweight squats you could put one foot up on a chair behind you and perform a squat on one leg (a split squat).
- Consistency: As with so many health and fitness endeavours building muscle requires consistent effort over time. But considering the short and long term benefits (looking better, feeling better, increased longevity, reduced risk for heart disease, diabetes, stroke, osteoporosis), I would strongly suggest the effort is worth it.
If you have not been doing any form of resistance training even small amounts will make a big difference, doing 30 minutes three times a week is likely to be transformative. If you already have a consistent resistance training regime, well done, you are doing something fantastic for your health. The more you train, the more likely it is that you will hit a plateau, in which case, finding different ways of increasing intensity becomes more important. Experiment with rest times, rep ranges and number of sets.
Resistance training is for everyone, we should all aspire to keep our bodies strong and functioning well. Whilst equipment can certainly help, especially if you are more experienced with your training, there’s huge benefits for beginners starting out with bodyweight exercises.
A Basic Muscle Building Regime
Finally, here is a set of bodyweight resistance exercises to perform at home, so you can begin to enjoy the health benefits of getting stronger.
These exercises have been chosen for their effectiveness, because they don’t require equipment, and primarily with beginners in mind (you can also easily search online for videos of them if required).
It is important to tailor YOUR programme to YOUR needs and capabilities. If you have an injury that is exacerbated by any of the movements don’t persist.
As a rough guide, I would recommend 10 repetitions of each exercise performed three times (that’s three sets). Do all sets of one exercise before moving onto the next.
Form is key, if you lose form when you get to your ninth squat, don’t attempt a tenth. It takes time to get used to these exercises, be patient. If 10 repetitions of an exercise feels easy, it is time to PROGRESS it by adding more reps or trying some of the progressions listed below.
Remember, consistency is key. It’s not what you do today or tomorrow that will make the difference, it’s what you do every day.
- Calf raises: Stand flat on the ground, hold on to something for balance if needed, rise up onto the ball of your foot so that your heels lift off the ground. Return to the starting position, making sure to control the descent.
Progression 1: Start from a step so that your heel is below the front of your foot and your calf muscle is stretched.
Progression 2: Perform the movement as above but on one foot.
- Squats: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, bend your knees and lower your hips back and down as if sitting in a chair, keeping your chest up and knees behind your toes, then return to standing.
Progression: Put your foot on a stool behind you and drop down into the squat position with standing leg, holding on for balance if necessary (this is a more advanced exercise, it is called a split squat. Hold onto something for balance if required).
Glute Bridges: Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor, then lift your hips toward the ceiling by squeezing your glutes, and lowering back down.
Progression: Perform the same exercise using only one leg at a time. The other leg should be straight and lifted off the floor.
Crunches: Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet flat, and hands on your temples, then curl your torso towards your knees, contracting your abdominal muscles, and slowly lower back down. A crunch involves a smaller movement than a sit up, you should not bend at your hip.
Progression: Hold a weight to your chest as you perform the movement.
Superman: Lie face down, extending your chest, arms and legs off the ground simultaneously, essentially turning yourself into a smiley face position. Return to the starting position in a controlled manner and repeat. This movement works pretty much every muscle on the back of your body.
Press Up: A press-up is performed by starting in a plank position, lowering your body to the ground by bending your elbows, then pushing back up to straighten your arms, engaging your chest, shoulders, and triceps.
Regression: Many people will struggle to do one press up, if you are in that group start the movement on your knees instead of full plank. But do try to keep your knees as far behind as possible, as it will mean you are working harder.