How do you ensure that your body retains muscle strength as you age?
Are you surprised to hear that nutrition and exercise both play a role in gaining muscle strength?
Then you need to read on to know what I do to tackle the problem.
The Early Days….
When I was in my preteens, I was nearly stick thin. My sister used to tease me by calling me a cylinder!Those were the days when I used to eat as much as I can without a care in the world! But then came adulthood with a bang! Suddenly I am in the thirties and struggling with my weight. Before I realised it, nearly 10 kgs of extra weight crept up on me.
Realising the need of Lean Muscles
Some intense internet research made me realise that things are no longer as easy as before. Several physiological changes have made loosing weight an even bigger challenge. Just cutting down on the calories was not enough. I needed to build lean muscle strength which required a fine balance of nutrition as well the right form of exercise.
Muscle Strength and Protein Intake
Strong muscles require the intake of the right form of protein. Not only for muscles but proteins are composed of amino acids which play a huge role in cognitive performance, stress management, and brain function. Overall adequate protein intake is extremely important for overall health.
Check out these medical publications to know more about this topic.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK224629/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/224958594_Brain_Responses_to_High-Protein_Diets
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26297940/
Protein rich food that I like to include in my diet
• Eggs: My egg allergy has subsided some what now and tolerance is increasing. So I try to have atleast one egg every day.
• Milk Protein in the form of fresh homemade curd, milk in my tea and cottage cheese.
• Fish: Being a bengali, fish is an intrinsic part of our diet which is one of the healthiest forms of protein.
• Chicken: I try to have chicken atleast twice a week.
• Lentils in the form of our daily staple, the humble dal is a must for me everyday. I try to eat at least one small bowl of dal everyday.
• Nuts like almonds, walnuts, pistacchio are a good protein rich snack.
My main aim is to include at least one portion of protein in each of my meals.
Exercise for Muscle Strength
Together with the intake of right quantity of protein in our daily diet, its extremely important to follow a daily exercise regime. Make sure to choose a form of exercise that you enjoy. Because if you don’t enjoy the time you are spending on working-out, you will feel a lethargy . Sticking to a regime for a long time will be difficult then. For e.g, I don’t enjoy doing the traditional gym workouts. During such workouts, my brain is constantly thinking “ when will this end??”
My preferred form of Exercise
So I have chosen a combination of cardio on my treadmill for a while together with my daily one hour long power vinyasa yoga, which I absolutely love to do! During my yoga sessions, never for once does the thought of “ when will this end?? “ enter my mind.
Power vinyasa, is a fast paced powerful, energetic form of yoga in which you have to fluidly move from one pose to the next while connecting breaths to movement. I am left drenched after my daily one hour of yoga me- time. 6 months of this form of yoga on a more or less daily basis has helped me regain my muscle strength to a great extent. Sometimes I used leg weights of 1 kg each during my yoga session, which makes the workout even more invigorating.
I recently took an online muscle age test and I was elated!
You can check your muscle age here .
I am taking my blog to the next level with Blogchatter’s #MyFriendAlexa.
This is a very informative post. I was impressed reading about your daily routine of yoga and nutrition. You ae inspiration. I would love to know more about your yoga routine.
Thank you Neha. Please read my post on yoga or you can email me thefoodlives@gmail.com.
Very interesting post. We rarely think about muscle strength in our daily mundane routine. Yoga surely has tremendous effects if done regularly
I totally agree that as we grow older we need to build on muscle strength. I too don’t like working out in a gym. Yoga is my go to for exercise
Wow this is amazing… will surely checkout my muscle strength
You’ve just reminded me of the need to tune up my exercises. Covid had broken certain good habits, you see.
Quite a well-detailed post. I also love how you’ve incorporated your IG reel and videos in it. Makes for better reading. Thanks
Completely agree. Exercise and nutrition both are important for good muscle strength.
Your daily routine Seems so healthy. The tool is definitely going to help alot.
it’s great that you’re paying attention to the muscle age. Keep it up.
Vinyasa with weights! Wow! That’s a unique form of yoga. At your age anything is possible….and its great you started young. Do make it a part of your lifestyle. My result of the test was pathetic. All the best to you.
Thank you 😊
You’re doing all the right things to get stronger inside out. Must try Vinyasa Yoga, have heard a lot about it. Do you have a Guru?
I am eager to do the test…and amazing Yoga practices…:)
Protien and some form of exercise is very important in today’s situation that all of us are in… Badam is a major source for vegetarians…
Nice article
This is a great way to test our muscle age and wow your muscle age is in 20’s. Congrats.
Thanks for sharing this information about muscle age. I started focussing on my health pretty late, but better late than never.
Exercise and nutrition should go hand in hand for a healthy life. I’m impressed with your daily routine. More power to you 👍
I fell sick last year… to the point that I was in bed rest for a while and reevaluate my diet. With so much out of my diet, this list would have helped me so much.
I loved taking this test! Was such an eye opener. Luckily I fared well too. But it doesn’t mean I take it easy. Staying healthy is a consistent task and one day at a time, I will get there to the desired results. #MyepicaReads
This is really informative. You have shared some excellent tips to help increase muscle strength. I am yet to take the test, not too positive about the results.
Really liked your point on choosing a form of exercise that we love. I have found that gym is something I don’t enjoy so I have found other forms of exercises 🙂
Same here
Both of them are equally important. focusing of only One is harmful than helpful. You have written a nice post about this..
Your Muscle Age Test results are so impressive, as is your Yoga routine. Your post has some great pointers as well. Great read!
I took the muscle age test and was so thrilled with the reuslts because my muscle age is exactly half my actual age. Happy that the last 20 years of regular stremgth training workout helped. SO, I complete;y loved your pointers on fitness and nutrtion.
I eat all of the above except fish because hubby doesn’t like it so it’s rarely made at home. i love fish and I have told him to buy from next week onwards.
Being consistent is the key and also following the plan 🙂 thanks for reinforcing the importance of protein intake
Though I am aware about muscle strength, more so in my age. I being a senior citizen – a new entrant to the segment. 😛 I checked immediately and it’s in 20s… Thanks for the post.
Your results are amazing. I took a test and was 10years +
Such a healthy routine. I try to follow a healthy lifestyle too and will be making a few tweaks in mine after going through yours. Thanks for motivating me 🙂
Nice post. I also tried the same test. Never knew it would be so simple to determine my muscle age.
Very informative post and tips on improving our muscle strength. Thanks for sharing! #MyFriendAlexa #TinasPicks