Q: For a person in his 70s who never did resistance training, what’s a good way to get started? A: Old-fashioned resistance training — lifting heavy weights multiple times — is the best way for men to slow and even reverse age-related muscle loss, known as sarcopenia. It can also increase your strength, protect against…

A new study finds an association between low muscle mass and cognitive decline in older adults. Increasingly prevalent worldwide, dementia negatively affects the lives of millions of people and their families. By the time of diagnosis, the process appears to be irreversible. The new research in JAMA Network Open, however, identifies muscle mass as a modifiable…

Many of you may be familiar with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In TCM, it’s believed that spring is a time of renewal. It’s also the perfect time to cleanse the liver. What I find fascinating about TCM is every season has a color, a flavor, a natural element, and an organ that is dominant during…

What are the effects of spinach and berries on oxidative stress, inflammation, and muscle soreness in athletes? Higher fruit and vegetable consumption was “positively associated with muscle power” in adolescents, but they aren’t the ones who really need it. What about the consumption of fruits and vegetables and the risk of frailty in older adults? Researchers found…

There are few activities more nourishing for both body and soul than planting and tending a garden. Gardeners have long known that the physical process of working with soil, water, and sunlight to coax a tiny seed through the miracle of growth and maturity has effects that go well beyond the pleasure of eating a…

Aging causes you to lose strength, no matter how much you exercise. Muscles are made up of hundreds of thousands of individual fibers, like a rope is made up of many strands. Each muscle fiber is innervated by a single motor nerve. With aging you lose motor nerves, and with each loss of a nerve,…

Varied strength training has a positive effect on developing strength, but not on muscle growth, a new study finds. For years, the word around gyms has been that to put on muscle, you need to vary your training with regards to weight, repetitions, and exercises. But the new findings show that so-called “periodized strength-training”—where training…

Could a key part of the solution for many health problems, including obesity, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, heart disease and even malignancy, be found in your muscle mass? Find out how this organ of longevity ‘talks’ with your immune system and disposes of at least 80% of the sugar in your blood. Story at-a-glance Muscle-centric medicine is…

Most people take their muscles for granted. It’s pretty easy to do. Unless you’re trying to be a bodybuilder or a powerlifter, you probably don’t think about them at all. And it’s a huge mistake. Especially if you’re 50+. In fact, it’s very easy to argue that muscle mass and strength is far more important…

Age-related muscle decline is a major threat because muscle strength not only allows you to participate in life, but it’s also essential for your metabolism, circulation and cognition. STORY AT-A-GLANCE Sarcopenia — age-related muscle loss — threatens a healthy lifespan. Skeletal muscle not only manages physical activity, but also plays a major role in metabolism,…