nayasmom wrote:I can't even do one push-up, and I'm aging healthily. I'm not obsessing over what I can or can't do, or what I should be able to do but can't do, or any other thing designed to encourage a sense of worthlessness. So sue me.
Robyn
Interestingly, when I was in my early 50's I felt the same way. I was out-bicycling anyone within 10 years of my age. Climbed Mt Diablo, a 3,500 ft climb, twice in one day at a fast pace. I had just finished a months long house renovation that included lots of hard physical labor including lifting and repetitious muscle work.
But despite my feeling of invincibility, the next 10 years of aging brought about a significant change in my body. Without specific directed attention to my muscles, they began fade away far more rapidly than ever before.
Less than 2 years ago, I realized how diminished they had become. The pace of muscle decline picks up rapidly as you pass through your mid fifties and into your sixties. They give it a name, Sarcopenia, and it is real. Without deliberate actions to counteract it, it catches up with all of us ever more rapidly.
When I was in my 30's or 40's I could stop exercising for months and hardly notice a dip in muscle strength. Give me a few weeks and I'd be back in fairly good shape.
Now, in my 60's, after about 10 years off from upper body conditioning, I was shocked when I went to do some basic exercises and lifting. Trying to do 10 push ups made me feel like my body was made of lead. BTW, I was in great cardiovascular shape all during that time, cycling and hiking.
If you can't even do one push up now, what do you expect your ability will be in 10 or 20 years?
Even runners have to get themselves up off the floor at times when in their 70's and 80's.
There is something about aging that allows us to make believe we'll just be a slightly less agile version of our current self as we pass through the decades.
The reality is that many seniors suddenly find themselves unable to do the basic tasks of life.
Many of us who have cared for aging parents have seen these sudden drop offs in muscle strength in those we love.
My father took care of everything around the house and then, in what seemed like a very short period of time, he couldn't do almost anything that required strength.
The pace of muscle decline picks up rapidly unless it is offset by deliberate exercise and muscle strengthening.
" After forty years of age, muscle loss proceeds at a rate of 0.5 - 2% per year or about 8% per decade on average. This rate accelerates noticeably after age 60 and is highest in physically inactive persons along with a parallel decline in dynamic, static, and isokinetic muscle strength. The result of such age-related LBM loss is a decline in function such that up to 65% of older men and women report that they are unable to lift ten pounds with their arms.
From age 60 and for each decade thereafter, the rate of muscle loss doubles."
http://www.dovepress.com/dove-press-blog-2-blog-post