Five ways to build and maintain muscle mass as you age

Unfortunately, muscle mass decreases as we age, making injuries and falls much more likely. In fact, it’s common to lose up to 3 to 5 percent of muscle mass per decade after turning 30. In order to preserve and maintain muscle mass, it ‘s important to lead a healthy and active lifestyle. These tips can help you look and feel your best.

Incorporate more protein into your daily diet

What you eat plays a huge role in how your body builds and maintains muscle mass. As you age, it’s important to incorporate more protein into your daily diet (1 to 1.3 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight to be exact).

There are many ways to get the protein you need on a daily basis, even if you consider yourself a vegan or vegetarian. While you’re gathering your sources of protein for the week, stay away from sources of red meat as they contain high levels of saturated fat and additives. Examples of healthy protein choices include:

• Black beans
• Salmon
• Skim milk
• Plain Greek yogurt
• Almonds
• Peanut butter

Create an exercise plan

Many different types of exercises can help seniors improve muscle strength. These include both aerobic/endurance and strength/resistance. It’s recommended you combine the two in your daily exercise routine and participate in strength training two non-consecutive days of the week.

Aerobic/endurance exercises

• Walking
• Jogging
• Dancing
• Cycling
• Sports: tennis, racquetball, soccer

Strength/resistance

• Weight lifting
• Squats
• Push-ups
• Lunges
• Planks

Focus on Vitamin D

A lack of Vitamin D can limit your body from building muscle. If you have low levels of Vitamin D, try taking supplements and incorporating foods like milk, orange juice, salmon and egg yolks into your diet plan.

Now is the time to take control of your health and start building muscle mass again. For more information about muscle mass loss with age and what you can do to prevent it, contact your doctor.