Muscle Misfire

While I’d never claim to having been athletic as a kid and young adult, I was far from sedentary; I hiked, sailed, swam, played volleyball and hide-n-seek. I was fit, trim, and had no problem with my weight. Then one day I woke up and discovered that my body had been exchanged for that of a weakling. What the heck?!

I quickly discovered that, even if you never had to work out before, as you age, you need to exercise just to maintain your body. This was a deeply sad and life-changing discovery for me. I now spend hours stretching, lifting, bending, leaping, and rolling simply to stay in one place physically. No wonder no one told us—this alone might have tempted me to end it all early.

Now that I’ve accepted the reality, though, I’m embracing my spandex-clad self if for no other reason than dissipating into a blob is not the way I’d like to go. The good news: regardless of age, the human body responds to regular exercise, and there are a lot of health benefits to entice you to work out.

Indeed, it has been a too-well-kept secret that the number and size of muscle fibers simply decrease with age. Studies have shown that an average human body loses more than six pounds of lean muscle every decade during middle age—most, apparently, from sitting around doing nothing. (I would like to know where those pounds go. They certainly are not deducted from the number we see on the scale, yet another one of nature’s cruel jokes.)

The muscles most affected are the “fast twitch” ones built for short, powerful bursts of energy, which explains how they deteriorated without you doing a thing. (Because you may be wondering,there are slow-twitch muscle fibers, too. They are built for endurance activities like long-distance running or biking.)

Once again—back to our recurring and sometimes annoying theme—exercise makes a difference. Specific workouts, like fast lifting, box jumps, jump squats, and kettle bell swings help build those fast-twitch muscles, but they all fall under the heading of moving and challenging our bodies to stay active and supple.

If you’re like me, and I know I am, it really helps to have accountability to do all of this exercise whether you go to a gym, have a trainer come to you, or use an app or video on a regular basis.