This archive report was first published on 31 August 2019.
Published on August 31, 2019, a study conducted at the University of Birmingham has made a groundbreaking discovery about the ability of elderly people to build muscle mass.
The research, published in Frontiers in Physiology, found that older individuals who have never participated in continuous exercise have the same capacity to build muscle as highly trained athletes of similar age.
Lead researcher Dr. Leigh Breen emphasized the importance of specific guidance on how individuals can improve their muscle strength, even outside of a gym setting. Activities such as gardening, walking up and downstairs, or lifting a shopping bag can all help if undertaken as part of a regular exercise regime.
The study compared muscle-building ability in two groups of older males: one group consisted of people in their 70s and 80s who were lifelong exercisers, while the other group comprised healthy elderly individuals of the same age who had never participated in structured exercise programs.
Both groups showed an equal capacity to build muscle in response to exercise, contradicting the researchers' initial expectations that the master athletes would have an increased ability to build muscle due to their superior levels of fitness.
Dr. Breen's findings suggest that it doesn't matter if you haven't been a regular exerciser throughout your life; you can still derive benefit from exercise whenever you start.
