late

"By the age of 65 the average male has lost 25 pounds of muscle mass." That's from the video below. I am going to do this in installments, this is the first.

DiabloScott

0.6g per pound is referring to protein intake of course.
I never worried about protein or strength training, but I'm 64 and I am worrying about it now.
I heard an interview with Peter Attia a few weeks ago and he made a lot of sense.
My little old mom likes to get me books - I'll probably mention this one to her.

rsbob 

25 lbs of muscle lost - I should weigh 140. It must have been replaced with the same amount of fat. Nah. A few lbs of fat - sure. But sarcopenea has taken its toll for sure. No more large quads.

Carbonfiberboy 

At 78, my biceps and thighs measure what they did at least 25 years ago. My wife and I joined our first gym in '79 so we could get strong enough to go setnet fishing in Alaska. Been at it ever since. I also did strength training in college and the Army. I'm not quite as strong as I used to be, but almost. No injuries. I am careful to get enough protein and calcium. I had to take a year off due to health issues, so my bodyfat percentage is up, sure enough. I'm working on bringing it down. It's not true that one has to gain weight to put on muscle. One can lose the same amount of fat that one gains in muscle. It's call body recomposition. Been there, done that and doing it again. Once the muscle is up, the fat can continue to go down. A problem I've run into is my drop in basal metabolism rate (BMR). I have to eat about half of what I remember, which makes protein acquisition more difficult. I have to supplement with whey protein.

79pmooney

I've thought for a while that as we age, we should lose weight for just that reason. Our organs don't change weight much, as far as I know. My bones certainly are a bunch lighter than 50 years ago. (The X-ray techs tell me and my fractures suggest the same.) I cannot figure out why carrying more fat than 50 years ago when I had far more muscle to lug it around is good.) I'm not there. Hanging in between my old race weight and old off season weight. Still lighter than I was for years.

I've also made an exercise change that has added some weight. Much less cycling and walking instead. Weight lifting. Making it a real point to carry as much weight (in steel, not fat) as much as possible. No, I am not doing big time weight lifting. A good way for this lifelong 6' climber to hurt himself. Instead, a little routine of a half dozen lifts geared to strengthening my shoulders, both of which have considerable soft tissue damage from bike crashes. (Only muscle keeps my left arm in its socket. Life is radically better when I do this routine.) And doing both these lifts and walking, often with weights in a backpack, is clearly strengthening my body overall. I've also been working on pushing hard off the balls of my feet when walking uphill. Obviously not efficient. Longer strides would be far more effective. But I'm hoping to get to the point where I can run some distance not landing on my heels like we did in high school cross country. I absolutely loved runni9ng that style and never really enjoyed running since when I've used the modern thick heeled shoes. Plus I've always struggled with shin splints with the new shoes; never an issue on my cross country flats. I may be too old and too far removed to get back but we will see.

10 Wheels

I was at 200 lbs, 67 y/o, rode from NY to LA in 57 days, Gained 2 LBS in The Heat of Summer.
4200 miles. Got in 15,923 Miles that year.
Now 81 and weight 202 lbs.

late

You can also do weighted shin curls. I haven't gotten a tib bar. What I do is stick a foot underneath the sofa, start the motion, and then do a shin curl to keep coming up.

Kai Winters

Bah ! ! ! I don't pay any attention to this bull sh.t. Most are scammers trying to sell you their product or new and revolutionary training system "guaranteed" to work wonders in only 7 days. Others are using decades old and generations outdated methods that aren't viable anymore.
I'm 68 and my muscle mass is nearly the same and actually better than it was decades ago when I was a cat 3 senior...Mainly because I'm retired and have lots more leisure time which I use to participate in yoga twice weekly, free weights on a nearly daily basis and ride 6 days per week with a training plan.
My diet is better and my sleep certainly is better and I seldom use an alarm and wake when my body says I've had enough sleep.
My generation, in general...those that are more or less like my above lifestyle...is likely the healthiest of all preceding generations.
It is all about 'life style'. I regularly see guys decades younger than me with huge guts overhanging their bellies, smoking ****, drinking excessively and looking far older and worn than I look or especially act...they can't walk a block without panting lol...poor, useless sods.
We may not be in the vast majority but we will generally outlast many and that is all I care about...living well and outlasting all the fools...

Steve B.

Agree, not buying it. I’m about the same weight I was 20 years ago. I am not bulkier from fat and I did not lose 25 lbs of muscle. If anything I’ve added muscle as I’ve been swimming for 10 mos and have built up muscle in my biceps and shoulders. My leg muscles are about the same size from steady cycling. So nit buying it,

late

The average American is sedentary..

Twenty something years ago, I realised I was about to enter old age. I did not want to be one of those people who hobbled around, bent, nearly crippled.

gobicycling

,6 grams of protein per pound???? I weigh 160 x .6 = 96 grams of protein per day. Anyone do that? 1 egg = 6 grams, 8 oz milk = 7 grams protein. I have seen recs of about .8 grams per Kg. That would be about 58 grams. Anyone do that? Supplemental protein?

At 84, I weigh about what I did at 24. I have done heavy weight lifting for many years, but now I am doing heavy duty stretch bands, swimming cycling and walking. Yes, my strength has dropped- quite q bit, but I am still alive and kicking!. .I had some PT to strengthen shoulders, recently.

I live with cardiac hypertension (quite different from regular hypertension), dendriform pulmonary ossification in all 5 lobes, residuals of treatment for trigeminal neuralgia, and a bunch of other stuff. However, BP is 120/80 or close most of the time, annual lab work excellent and normal. Yes, I am wearing out, but nothing like the video. I think it is mostly BS.

late

Perhaps because you're already doing what he suggests?

seypat

I don't why people are harping about it. The alternative to getting old is not very good either.

Natronious

great work

jon c. 

No matter how I struggle and strive
I'll never get out of this world alive

Biker395 

My plan:

1. Use it or lose it.
2. All things in reasonable moderation.
3. Ignore charlatans with a profit motive and pay attention to clinical trials or other peer reviewed information.
4. Worry less, enjoy more. Live in the moment.

Wileyrat

I retired last January, and my plan has always been to spend my days riding (road and mtn), hiking, going to the gym, working around the house, and doing some traveling with the wife. So far, it’s been a successful plan.

I may get old, but I’m not going down without a fight.

Carbonfiberboy 

I confess to not even watching the video. Why would I do that? Late's quote, presumably from the video, is right on, I would say. We are all outliers, not normal. I don't know anyone my age not involved in an endurance sport who has anything close to my body comp and who can do what I do.

Today, I happened to go for my first hilly day hike in over a year. Six miles and it went just fine. I'll be a little sore tomorrow, so I'll do some fastpedal on my rollers to keep the healing going. Rode 30 miles on our tandem yesterday, hills up to 14%, no problem, and I'm a heart patient now. Not that I'm some wonder, I just never quit doing what I enjoy doing, being physically active. I also haven't gone electric. I'd rather train. I also have very low gears on that tandem!

We also have close friends, among them a tandem couple about 10 years younger than we who will ride with us and do a bit of the greyhound and rabbit thing to make sure we aren't dogging it. Having friends like that is really important in our experience. Looking forward to some DH and XC skiing this winter, though hard to know if there'll be enough snow. Glad I don't own a ski area. People are up there snowshoeing today though. We also snowshoe.

Kai Winters

Good for you !
I too love to snowshoe and we do it frequently here in Northern NY.
We, my wife and I, also do lots of hiking especially the fire tower hikes in the Adirondaks and some in the Catskills.

PeteHski

I haven't watched the video in the first post, but I am reading the book in the second post, which is very informative. Peter Attia is not into bs. He takes a view from both a medical and scientific background.

Basically it's true that ordinary average sedentary Americans (and Brits!) lose tons of muscle mass and strength in old age. But if you keep on exercising, strength training etc and eat a healthy diet then muscle loss and decline in aerobic fitness (VO2 max) can be minimised. Maintaining metabolic health appears to be the key to growing old without all the usual associated diseases.

RB1-luvr

at 59 I had to stop running this past summer and I'm super bummed about it (knee pain). I read that impact sports prompt the brain to produce the necessary things to maintain bone density. So my priority is to find out what's wrong with my knees. I am not ready to quit running. Thankfully I can still cycle and compete in cyclocross.

I have recently gotten back to doing pushups. I stopped doing them ten years ago when I destroyed my rotator cuff.

There are too many days when it's difficult to believe how sore my body is all over. Ankles, wrists, knees, back... the late fifites are kicking my butt.

gobicycling

Do you stretch regularly? My PT has advised some stretches which I do daily, mostly after swimming. But I do them if I don't swim also.

RB1-luvr

I stretch semi-regularly. That and diet is where I lack the most.

ofajen

I’ve made substantially the same changes over the last year. The transition to only ultra minimal shoes allowed me to start running again. No issues with my toes being pinched and no risk of knee injury from heel strike impact since I do forefoot strike.

Also, a much greater mix with less cycling, more walking, more running and more circuit training with weights and other stuff like push-ups, step ups. While I was at it, I went back to single speed which is likely to be my cycling mode for a while.

Otto

Hermes

We decided to move the thread to Pills and Ills - very little cycling content. Another choice could have been Foo. Members have requested that the 50+ open forum be dedicated to cycling content. And yes, a couple of threads have slipped through such as the chocolate thread and etc. And Pub51 is available in the sticky section for Foo like discussions.