Muscle, The Currency of Independence
Muscle, the currency of independence, your engine for aging well. It allows you to climb stairs, carry groceries, pick up the grandchildren hike trails, recover from a stumble, and remain independent. As we age, that engine slowly loses horsepower—but it doesn’t have to. Muscle mass shrinks with age. We lose strength and power—all the things that fuel an active life. Beginning around age 35, most adults begin losing muscle at roughly 1–2 percent per year unless they actively work to preserve it. Some people may retain their muscle but on average, without any effort you could lose up to 6 pounds of muscle per decade.
The tricky part is that muscle loss is gradual. You don’t feel it day to day, and the bathroom scale often hides it because lost muscle is frequently replaced by fat.
Here’s what I found when researching for The Ageless Angler book: The biggest threat to aging with strength and vigor is the loss of muscle, especially type-2 fast-twitch fibers—the fibers responsible for strength, power, balance, quick reactions, and the ability to catch yourself when you stumble. Muscle, the currency of independence.
It doesn’t just affect your strength. A 2010 report in the journal Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care highlighted the seriousness, breadth, and depth of muscle loss: “The decrease in muscle mass is also accompanied by a progressive increase in fat mass and consequently changes in body composition and is associated with an increased incidence of insulin resistance in the elderly. Furthermore, bone density decreases, joint stiffness increases, and there is a small reduction in stature (kyphosis).” Muscle loss is more than mere dullness; it is a decline with deep and wide downstream vulnerabilities and implications.
Growing older is not the threat. The threat is allowing ourselves to get old.
There’s more going on than mere aging. I’ll quote Harvard Health directly, “It’s tempting to attribute all of these changes to aging alone, disuse of muscles plays a bigger role than many people suspect.”
Progressive resistance training along with good nutrition can reduce and even reverse muscle loss effects. Muscle is one of the few aspects of aging you can directly influence. Every strength workout sends your body the same message: Keep this tissue. I still need it. Your body responds remarkably well, even into your seventies, eighties, and beyond. The best time to begin is today.
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