What is the best training to prevent muscle loss after age 60?
Strength training, combined with adequate protein intake, is the best-supported strategy against muscle loss after age 60. If you also want to lose weight, add endurance training to better protect muscle mass.
Strength training is the only non-pharmaceutical approach that demonstrably improves muscle mass, muscle strength and muscle power after age 60. Combine it with adequate protein intake and you have the best-supported strategy against muscle loss (also known as sarcopenia). Multiple independent studies confirm this time and again.
A study in 70-year-olds with early-stage muscle loss showed that just 10 weeks of supervised strength training led to an average of 1.1 kg more muscle mass and 0.6 kg less fat. Functional strength improved noticeably. Mobility and balance only improved measurably in men, not across the whole group. Results can therefore vary from person to person1.
Looking to lose weight as well? Then the combination of strength and endurance training is most effective. That group scored 21% better on a standard performance test, compared with 14% for strength training alone or endurance training alone. Strength training also protected muscle mass far better during weight loss: muscle mass declined by only 2 to 3% instead of 5% with endurance training alone. Musculoskeletal injuries did occur as a side effect in all training groups2,3.
Finding it hard to get started? Short, frequent bouts of strength exercise spread throughout the day, also known as 'exercise snacking', can already help. No equipment needed, low barrier to entry. The evidence for this is less robust than that for traditional strength training, as it is based on a single review study4,5. If you add endurance training to strength training, limit it to a maximum of three training days per week: more endurance training can actually hinder strength development.
Among supplements, creatine is the most extensively studied in older adults. On top of strength training, it can further improve upper-body strength in older women, particularly in programmes lasting at least 24 weeks. An effect on muscle mass itself was not demonstrated. Note: two authors of that meta-analysis have financial ties to the creatine industry6,7. Leucine and other supplements are promising but still too early in the research process for concrete recommendations.
Based on multiple RCTs, a meta-analysis and a review study (PMIDs: 31343601, 15107011, 34822137, 30414822, 28514618, 34836013, 39408239). The strongest conclusions about strength training come from multiple independent studies. The creatine findings come from a single meta-analysis in which two authors disclosed financial ties to the creatine industry.