Healthy Muscle

If there’s one misconception that is commonly held by academics I meet It’s that muscle building is for the dumb, or that anyone who has developed lean muscle mass is in some way stupid or obsessive.

Now I am not denying that there are some associated psychological issues that exist for a small number of the training fraternity like body dis-morphia or spend-thousands-on-supplements-itis but there are some very real health benefits that you should understand.

The first thing to understand is that all tissues in our body, for example tissues in the heart, liver, skin, brain (you need that one) need a steady supply of amino acids to protect against the persistent rate of breakdown that occurs in all tissues.

Our muscle mass is like a reservoir of fuel.

We can transform muscle proteins into amino acids and then into glucose during periods of fasting. Due to our ability to do this effectively those with a high level of muscle mass show relatively little change in blood sugar levels despite extended periods of fasting. One study found that obese patients (it is a general trend that obese people also have a high level of muscle) had very little change in amino acid levels in their blood even after periods of 60 days fasting (1)

Did you know that patients of chronic disease (particularly cancer, heart disease and HIV aids) rapidly increase their rate of muscle breakdown?

People who have a low level of skeletal muscle have an increased risk of death or recurrence of disease following treatment indicating the role of muscle mass is significant in the healing process.
(2)

Studies have found that even burn victims can require up to 4g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day to provide enough precursors for the healing of tissue. (3)

The ability to maintain muscle mass in middle age is vitally important not only for the reasons I have mentioned but to stop the muscle wastage, predominantly of the weight bearing extensors, namely the front of the thigh, the glutes and the lower back that occurs at around 50 years.

Maintaining a level of muscle is in my opinion an absolute must to remain healthy and continue to enjoy a fantastic quality of life well into retirement!

If you would like some help putting together a training program and diet that will help you build and maintain some “healthy muscle” please feel free to contact us on here or via info@storm-fitness.com

Spence

(1-Drenick 1964) (2-Kadar, Albertson 2000) (3-Wolfe 2000)