Why strength training will save your life: What is Sarcopenia and How Can We Prevent It?

As we age, our bodies naturally undergo a series of changes, some more noticeable than others. One of the most impactful, yet often overlooked changes is the gradual loss of muscle mass and strength, a condition known as sarcopenia. This silent but serious process can significantly affect our mobility, independence, and overall quality of life. In this post, we’ll explore what sarcopenia is, how it occurs, its impact on daily living, and what you can do to prevent or manage it.

What is Sarcopenia?

Sarcopenia is the age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass and function. It typically begins in the fourth decade of life, with a gradual decline of 3-8% per decade, accelerating after the age of 60. By the time someone reaches their 70s or 80s, muscle mass can be reduced by as much as 50%.

This isn’t just a cosmetic issue, sarcopenia is linked to frailty, increased risk of falls, slower recovery from illness, and higher mortality rates.

It’s important to note that, everyone is subjected at some point to this age related muscle loss. Even healthy and active individuals, it’s simply a part of life.

Effective screening

Honestly the screening for sarcopenia leaves me a bit perplexed, the grip test for instance is commonly used. Even though the lower body experiences dramatic loss in muscle mass and strength compare to the upper body. Not mentionioning that in term of function and assessment of quality of life lower body strength is a lot more important for simple things such as locomotion. Now there’s the squat to chair assessment, the passing mark is 5 reps within 15s with no assistance. Which is a bit more valuable even though I think it could be a bit more extensive and include other movement patterns.

Scans are by far the most accurate, now I’m talking dexa scans. Your local gym body comp machine won’t help much here, simply because they are not accurate and the machine won’t indicate the difference between contractile and non-contractile tissue in the muscles. In older populations where fibrosis is very common, it’s important to have a reading that demarcates between the two.

prevention

At the heart of sarcopenia there’s a few inter-related mechanism that are responsible for the muscle loss. Such as progressive loss of motor-neuron, loss of capillaries, loss of protein synthesis etc.. all of which can be helped with through strength and conditioning training.

When strength training you’re increasing muscle mass and function. Increasing the number of capillaries, motor-neurons and protein synthesis. Now as mentioned earlier even healthy and fit individuals are prone to all those symptoms it’s simply part of ageing, but what we have control over is the rate at which that happens.

Let’s take two speared avatars for example …

P1 (Fit)

• Age: 30

• Training: Strength training 2–3x/week, walks regularly

• Strength: Back squat 120 kg (~1.5–1.8x BW)

• Skeletal Muscle Mass (SMM): ~40% of body weight (very high)

• General health: Good cardiovascular function, low body fat, high mobility, metabolic health

P2 (Unfit)

• Age: 30

• Physical activity: Minimal, sedentary

• Strength: Can back squat ~20 kg (very low)

• Skeletal Muscle Mass (SMM): ~20% of body weight huge muscle atrophy (sarcopenia-adjacent)

• General health: Likely low bone density, poor insulin sensitivity, possible joint issues, low endurance

The Trajectory to Age 65

🧍‍♂️ P1 at Age 65

Lifestyle assumption: Maintains or slightly reduces training (e.g. 1–2x/week strength + walking).

Physical Profile:

• SMM declines ~0.5–1%/year after 30, but training reduces the rate. At 65, he might still retain ~33–35% of BW as muscle, which is excellent for his age.

• Can still squat 80–100 kg safely.

• Maintains joint health, good balance, and agility.

• Likely has preserved bone density and low visceral fat.

• Walking preserves aerobic health and mental acuity.

• Likely functional independence: can carry groceries, climb stairs, even jog or hike.

Health Outcomes:

• Low risk of falls or fractures

• Low chronic disease risk: diabetes, heart disease, hypertension

• Likely to age in own home (independent living not in care)

• Higher quality of life and possible extra years of healthspan

🧍‍♂️ P2 at Age 65

Lifestyle assumption: Remains largely sedentary, low physical engagement, poor diet.

Physical Profile:

• SMM may drop to 15–17% of BW, this is clinical sarcopenia.

• Back squat ability? Probably gone. May struggle to stand from a chair unassisted.

• Likely osteopenia or osteoporosis due to lack of mechanical loading.

• Poor aerobic capacity, may get winded after walking a block.

• Poor balance and gait instability, increasing fall risk.

• May develop central obesity even if still “underweight” by BMI.

Health Outcomes:

• High risk of falls, fractures, and long recoveries

• Increased risk of chronic diseases (type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease)

• May need assisted living or mobility devices

• Lower quality of life, reduced independence, possibly shortened lifespan

Morale of the story

Strength Training really should be a non-negotiable for everyone. Just like brushing your teeth, just like drinking water. Everyone will experience some sort of muscle loss and strength loss as we age, and the only known major factors we can affect are the rate at which you lose and from how high you’re falling. In short, the earlier and more consistent you are the more benefit you’ll see. People usually hear strength training and think omg I need to be at the gym everyday. No you don’t. Twice a week is plenty to see a lot of progress! For example our small group training session are geared to 2 or 3 sessions a week.

ON-U-TRAINING

At ON-U we’re dedicated to make strength training fun and accessible to everyone. If you don’t know where to start, come down for a free 1-1 consult and we can chat about what would work best for you. Be it Online programming, 1-1 PT or our Small group PT session we will have something for you.