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Jan. 8, 2026

Am I too old to start strength training?

Maria Garcia, MD

Medically reviewed by:
Maria Garcia, MD

It’s never too late to work on improving your muscle strength. Diet and exercise can help slow the decline in muscle mass we all face.

The best time to start improving your muscle strength is yesterday. The next best time is today.

At your peak, muscle makes up 60% of your body mass. Between your 30s and your 80s, you can lose as much as half of your total muscle mass1, 4 to 6 pounds per decade. The amount of muscle loss, and how fast it happens, can accelerate if you are inactive. The decline puts you at higher risk for falls and fractures.

You can slow your muscle decline with changes to your diet as well as exercise, especially strength training. You don’t even have to join a fancy gym or hire a personal trainer to get the benefits. However, before you get started, you should talk to a clinician to know what precise path is right for you.

Why do I lose muscle as I age?

Muscle loss happens because of physical changes as you age. Basically, your body stops or slows down natural signals for your muscles to grow. You might hear this process called sarcopenia. There is no clinical consensus on a definition of the term, so your doctor might not use it unless your muscle loss is severe enough to cause major health risks.

What happens when I lose muscle mass?

Losing half of your muscle mass by age 80 can have significant effects:2

  • Difficulty standing up from a sitting position and walking steadily due to loss of function, disability and frailty, risking falls with severe injuries
  • Increased insulin resistance
  • Increased fatigue

These effects can get worse, or happen at a younger age, depending on several factors. They include poor diet and a lack of physical activity.3

Sarcopenic obesity is a term used to describe people whose muscle loss is coupled with increased fat mass and fat infiltration into skeletal muscle. One study put an 83% greater risk of mortality for people who had low muscle mass and abdominal obesity.4

How can I slow my muscle loss?

If you didn’t eat right and exercise with an eye on maximizing your muscles in your 20s – and, really, who among us really did that? – it’s not too late to take care of maintaining your strength. You can’t look like young Arnold Schwarzenegger, but you can slow the decline.

Of course, it’s still about eating right and exercising. But it’s easier to do than you might think, and you don’t have to hire a dietitian or a personal trainer to get the benefits.

What food is best for muscles?

Protein is a critical dietary need for your muscles. Studies show many older adults don’t consume minimum recommended daily amounts of protein. 5 Protein needs increase as you get older because muscles absorb less of it as you age.

High-protein foods include:

  • Most meats, and even meat substitutes such as tofu
  • Nuts and nut-based foods like peanut butter
  • Eggs
  • Milk, and milk-based foods such as Greek yogurt and cottage cheese
  • Many vegetables, such as brussels sprouts, broccoli and peas

There are many more. The benefit of these foods also is that they provide many other nutrients. Talk to your clinician to learn more about what works best for you.

What exercise is best for muscles?

Regular exercise and movement of any kind is always preferable to a sedentary lifestyle. To slow muscle loss, introduce strength training. That includes not only lifting weights, but also endurance exercises such as planking, push-ups, sit-ups and squats.

If you haven’t been physically active for a while, you could start with balance and flexibility exercises.

Before you start an exercise program, talk to your clinicians about your current physical status, and what will work best for you as you get started. Your clinician can help you with exercises or point you to physical therapy and classes that get you going.

It’s never too late to start. With just a few changes, you can be on your way to better muscle health – and a better life.

Sources

  1. European Journal of Nutrition, “The association of dietary patterns with muscle mass and strength in old age: The Hordaland Health Study.” Accessed Jan. 5, 2026. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00394-023-03206-9
  2. Current Opinion in Rheumatology, “Sarcopenia in older adults.” Accessed Jan. 5, 2026. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4066461/
  3. European Journal of Applied Physiology, “Changes and major determinants of relative muscle power loss in older adults: results from an 8-year longitudinal study.” Accessed Jan. 5, 2026. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41094174/
  4. Aging Clinical and Experimental Research, “Can simple measures from clinical practice serve as a proxy for sarcopenic obesity and identify mortality risk?” Accessed Jan. 5, 2026. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40520-024-02866-9#Abs1
  5. The Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging, “Low Dietary Protein Intakes and Associated Dietary Patterns and Functional Limitations in an Aging Population: A NHANES Analysis.” Accessed Jan. 5, 2026. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12603-019-1174-1
  6. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, “Aging Skeletal Muscles: What Are the Mechanisms of Age-Related Loss of Strength and Muscle Mass, and Can We Impede Its Development and Progression?” Accessed Jan. 5, 2026. https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/25/20/10932
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