Hello Reader

This week I'm excited to talk about a topic that is transforming the way we age and the way we think about aging.

It has the potential to revolutionize the way we live the later part of our life.

It is something that make us more able as we grow older:

Building muscle mass and getting stronger.

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The way I look at muscle mass is as capital for older age. The more muscle you build up early on, the more of a reserve you have getting old, and the less impact muscle loss has on the quality of your life.

The more you keep building up muscle strength, the greater the quality of your life.

Last week I shared about a way to test our strength and how it relates to quality of life.

This week, I will share the four habits you need to get stronger.

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Habit of training

The first habit you need to get stronger is a habit of training.

Muscle mass and strength grow by alternating stress and repair on the muscle fibers.

Both phases are critical and complementary.

By stress, we mean applying resistance or weight. By repair we mean bringing nutrients and rest.

This is strength or resistance training

You don't necessarily need equipment (you can start with the weight of your body) but you do need to practice movements that involve resistance on a regular basis.

Ideally 2 to 3 strength training practice per week of 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Stretching should be part of training and practised on rest days as well.

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Habit of progression

The second habit you need to get stronger is habit of progression.

In order to keep growing muscles, training should follow the principle of progressive overload, which means that we gradually increase the stress we place on muscles.

A good place to start when performing movements is 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 8 repetitions (reps).

From there, there are many ways to progress. We can keep pushing ourselves with :

• heavier weights,
• higher volumes (increase number of repetitions),
• more frequent work outs,
• same weight but more control.

Any of these ways work as long as there is consistent progression.

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Grip strength

Last week, I shared about grip strength as a proxy of overall strength.

But the strength of our hands is also something that can be improved specifically with 3 movements:

1. Dead hangs.

It involves grabbing a bar and letting your body weight hang down. You can do that at home with a pull-up bar, or like me sometimes, at the playground.

Work on increasing your time from 10-30 seconds at first, up to 2 minutes or more.

2. Dead lifts

A dead lift is the movement of picking up something from the ground. You can find out more about it here, in the context of training.

3. Farmer's carry

To do this at home or at the gym, pick dumbbells or kettle-bells in both hands and walk for a set distance or time. As the name indicates, this also works with milk cans.

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Habit of construction

The third habit you need to get stronger is habit of construction.

To build up muscle, we need to bring building blocks. The building blocks of muscles are amino acids, which come from food as protein.

Nutrition, as well as rest, are just as important for muscle growth and strength than training.
You will not see gains if you neglect this part.

The current RDA (recommended daily amount) of 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight is the minimum amount to maintain muscle.

However, when engaging in strength training 2 or 3 times per week, it is necessary to increase it up to 1.2 to 2.2 grams per kilogram of body weight per day, in order to gain muscle mass and strength.

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Habit of rest

Finally, you need a habit of rest and recovery.

During sleep, the systems in our body undergo repair.

For those who train, sleep is the time muscle is built up.

Aim for 7 to 8 hours per night and listen to your body if you need more.

Similarly, it is important to practice active recovery. This means that on the days you're not training, you don't just lay on the couch, but you move without pushing yourself.

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There you have all the habits you need to get stronger.

Now I'd like to hear from you: what is your #1 challenge in creating these habits?

Let me know by hitting reply.

Talk soon

Jihane

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