With today’s active lifestyles, it would seem that it would be easy to stay fit, even when reaching the years after the age of forty. But for those of us over 40, there are a few things we would be wise to include in our health and exercise regimens.
A study out of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, concludes that for those of us over 40 years of age, weight training – in conjunction with an increase in our protein intake – is essential.
Pulling from a credible database of published reports, researchers examined 1,863 people of various stations in life – men and women, young and old, those in training and not, and tracked the participant’s protein intake and muscle size and strength as they entered into weight training.
The sources of protein were also varied, as was were the amounts and times of day the protein was consumed. Essentially, the study covered the gambit.
What the researchers found was that those who consumed more protein while weight training built more muscle mass and strength than those who didn’t consume as much protein or consumed none at all.
Those participants who consumed protein at effective levels saw a 10 percent increase in their muscle strength and a 25 percent increase in muscle mass compared to those who did not.
The results concluded that the optimal protein intake for those in weight training was 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. In layman’s terms, this calculates to approximately 130 grams of protein a day for a male who weighs about 175 pounds.
Interestingly, this conclusion is a much higher number than the federal recommendations for our daily protein intake. Those recommendations call for including 56 grams of protein a day for males and 46 grams a day for females.
The findings of the McMaster University study hold especially true for those of us over 40 years of age.
If we are to maintain healthy muscle tone and strength, we must engage in some form of weight training and elevate our protein intake.
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