I came across a post that the Old Dogs may find inspiring from a Paul Carter a very low profile coach with zero bullshit, says the below on Instagram
5,343 Likes, 122 Comments - Paul Carter (@liftrunbang1) on Instagram: “I get a lot of these types of questions.... "Can I still build muscle in my 50's?" "Is there any…”
"Can I still build muscle in my 50's?"
"Is there any hope for a mom of three to get in the best shape of her life?"
"I lost motivation years ago but I really want to get in shape again. Is it too late?"
This is one of my most favourite studies and pic comparisons of all time related to what exercise actually does for us.
This was the "Chronic Exercise Preserves Lean Muscle Mass in Masters Athletes" where they did MRI's on "masters" athletes (recreationally) and saw that the degree of muscle mass between those in their 40's and those in their 70's wasn’t much different.
As you can see from the MRI the lean tissue of the triathlete in his 70’s looks comparatively identical to that of the one in his 40’s.
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And then of course there's a stark difference in those compared to the sedentary man in his 70's. -
Even more astounding is that there was further research to quantify that while we start to lose the ability to recruit and connect to as many motor units as we could in our 30's, our body actually recreates new connections called collateral reinnervation, where we still have axons that allow us to recruit basically the same amount of fibres.
This continues for a long time, even when we're basically in our late 60's where there's only a small difference in the number of motor units we can recruit.
But even the master's athletes in their 80's still had access to a significant number of motor units.
To further add, the myth that our metabolism starts to slow in our 20's or 30's or 40's has also been proven to be entirely false, and that it's not until our 60's that this happens, and then it's only minorly significant (HERMAN PONTZER, 2021).
BUT HERE IS THE THING....
You DO HAVE TO START
You DO HAVE TO BE CONSISTENT
You DO HAVE TO DO THE WORK DAILY, WEEKLY, MONTHLY, YEARLY
You DO HAVE TO LEARN HOW TO FALL IN LOVE WITH THE PROCESS
The most important part isn't your age, or your past, or the times where you think you failed yourself or someone else.
The most important part is in fact simply STARTING.
The second most important part is CONTINUING.