The smoking gun, for me, is the hill sprint at the end of the workout. I can still keep up with some of my younger training partners in tempo runs and mile reps, but when it comes to blasting uphill, I get left in the dust. That sort of explosive muscle power used to be right in my wheelhouse, but now that I’m in my late 40s, those gears are missing.
I’m hardly alone. The decline of muscle power is one of the hallmarks of aging in your 40s and beyond. That’s a problem, because power is one of the best predictors of how well you’ll be able to handle the typical activities of daily living, like climbing stairs and hoisting yourself out of a chair, in your later years. But scientists aren’t sure why power declines so quickly and inexorably with age. A new study in the Journal of Applied Physiology digs into this mystery, and its findings offer some clues about how to fight back against this loss of power.
Why Muscle Power Matters
Let’s start with a definition: power is equal to force times velocity. When we talk about muscle strength, we’re referring to how much force a muscle can exert. When…
