After the age of 30, both men and women begin to experience an involuntary loss of muscle – approximately 3 to 5% of lean mass per decade – called sarcopenia, says Nikki Ternay, CPT, a health and fitness coach and founder of MavenHeart, an empowerment program for women.
However, for women, changing estrogen levels during perimenopause and menopause can accelerate this process, especially into your 50s.
Building muscle after 50 takes a concerted effort, but one thing is for certain: your future self will never regret it.
Muscle is the fountain of youth, the connection between muscle mass and staying healthy is well-documented. Strength training is particularly effective in offsetting sarcopenia, as it stimulates muscle growth and helps maintain bone density, mobility, and overall health, said Nikki.
For women over 50, embracing weightlifting can help counteract some of the accelerated muscle loss caused by age and hormonal changes.
The higher your muscle to fat mass ratio is, the less likely diseases such as arthritis, diabetes, osteoporosis, high blood pressure, heart disease, and obesity are to occur, Nikki said.
Muscle burns a lot of energy and helps keep your blood sugar stable, which can even lower your chances of developing type 2 diabetes, she added.
How to start building muscle
Progress can be made with a three-days-per-week resistance training routine.
“Building muscle is possible at any age, but as we go through menopause, the body needs more stimulus to achieve the results we want,” Nikki said.
How to hit that goal
- Aim for three resistance training days per week.
- Focus on key muscle groups like legs, back, and core as you build up your routine.
- Target each muscle group with at least two to three exercises per session.
- To build muscle, perform six to 12 reps of three to five sets per exercise with 60 to 90 seconds rest between sets.
- Beginners can start with fewer sets per muscle group per week and gradually increase over time.
- Choose a weight that makes the last one to two reps of each set feel challenging but still doable with proper form.
Sample Week Plan
Day 1: Full-body workout (legs, back, core)
Day 2: Rest or low-impact light movement/active recovery (think: walking, cycling, swimming, or stretching)
Day 3: Full-body workout (chest, shoulders, arms, core)
Day 4: Rest or low-impact light movement/active recovery (think: walking, cycling, swimming, or stretching)
Day 5: Full-body workout (legs, back, chest, core)
Day 6: Rest and active recovery (think: light movement like walking, stretching, cycling)
Day 7: Rest
Each day would include two to three exercises for the major muscle groups being targeted, with at least three sets per exercise. The difficulty of exercises or number of sets can be tweaked as needed, depending on your fitness level and relative to your progress.
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