It’s In The Legs!
By Stephen L Doherty
May 5th, 2024
“Leg muscles are like the pillars that hold up the entire structure of your body.
Strengthen them, and you’ll strengthen your foundation.” – Unknown
I’ve become a voracious reader of all things related to the expanding list of health issues facing those of us over the age of sixty. It’s an exhaustive, nearly bottomless pit of advice, studies, medical analysis, and competing theories of every aspect of health and aging. I could write for the next five-years and barely scratch the surface. So instead, I have picked the topic that any of us can seize upon to dramatically improve the quality of our lives while staving off a few of the many challenges and threats that mount with each passing year. Legs! That’s right – LEGS!
One of the most elusive and oft-ignored physical realities that we all face is the subtle increase in the rate of decline of the diminishment of our muscular structure – specifically our muscle mass. After the age of thirty (30) we lose on average, 3%-5% of our muscle mass every decade. More, if we don’t exercise, and the rate of loss only accelerates as we get older. The consequences are devastating as the forces of life gradually shift to our skeletal structure as muscle mass decreases. Imagine driving an old car with no springs, tires, or shock absorbers.
One bright spot in medical research is how dramatically and positively most people in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and even 90s – respond to strength training – even if they’ve never engaged in it before. In otherwards, the downward decline can be stemmed with progressively more intense strength training and upping our protein intake. It’s challenging and difficult, because the muscle tissue you’re trying to grow and strengthen is already fading at a faster and faster rate. The consequences of inactivity far outweigh the challenge and hard work necessary to strengthen our aging muscles.
I’ve selected legs as the target and the gauntlet challenge because so much of our lives are dependent on mobility which stems directly from the strength and flexibility of our thighs and hips. Additionally, there are so many ways to attack the legs and increase the power, stamina, and stability of what’s really the foundation of our entire physical structure.
Building muscle mass in your legs and hips is a game changer for your quality of life and greatly reduces the odds of falls and other degenerative bone mishaps. You can start with a simple walk around the block and, before you know it, you’re at the gym pounding out steps on the Stairmaster or squats or uphill runs on the treadmill. The choices of leg exercises are endless, and the juice is definitely worth the squeeze! You’ll quickly feel like the family sedan with new shock absorbers and Michelin tires!
As most of us face life’s later innings and deal with an ever-shortening health runway – most of our time will be spent trying to outrun and elude the Four Horsemen. (Cancer, Heart Disease, Type-2 Diabetes, and Neuro Generative Diseases (Dementia, Alzheimer’s, etc.) There are so many things we can’t control in the quest to live well and longer – that it’s a huge, missed opportunity to ignore the things we can control.
Do yourself and your body a favor and make leg muscle development a top priority. There are few other things you can do that simultaneously improves your quality of living while reducing the odds of small mishaps that can have such a disastrous impact on your enjoyment of life. This advice never gets old, “There’s more to life than physical training, but physical training is what puts more into your life!”
“The only bad workout is the one that didn’t happen.
Keep pushing forward, even when it gets tough.” – Unknown
