Make it a Habit: Be strategic: Thinking about fitness after 40

The question I’m asked most frequently by people in their 40s is what they need to do now to enjoy robust health in their 60s and 70s. In your 40s, focusing on fitness is key.

Your body will experience age-related losses before you’re even aware of it. So, make exercise now less about duration and mileage and more about preserving muscle and bone, supporting cardiovascular capacity and hanging onto mobility.

Your strength peaks in your 20s or 30s, and you can maintain strength relatively easily through these decades. Measurable age-related decline in both muscle mass and muscle strength becomes more apparent around age 40. Muscle mass and muscle strength are not the same thing.

Muscle mass is the amount of muscle tissue in your body. Muscle helps you move, maintain your posture, stabilize your joints and perform physical activities. Once you reach your 40s, the decline in muscle mass becomes more apparent. You may notice a change in your body shape, with less muscle definition and increased abdominal fat.

Muscle strength is your ability to exert force. You exert force when you lift, push or pull weight, when you stand up from a chair without using your arms, and when you climb stairs or carry a heavy bag. Normal age-related changes in your central nervous system and muscle fiber composition affect your ability to generate force quickly. Everyday tasks may feel a little harder, and you might think twice about sitting on the floor.

Because physiological decline happens before functional decline becomes noticeable, you remain very able to manage these changes because you have enough remaining capacity — or muscle reserve — to compensate. However, continued loss of both muscle mass and muscle strength can reduce that reserve enough that, 20 years later, in your 60s and 70s, ordinary activities that used to be easy become challenging.

You already know that two to three days of strength training, where you train all major muscle groups, is an evidence-based way to maintain muscle mass, strength and reserve into and beyond your 40s. And you know about the importance of including sufficient protein in your daily meals to support muscle maintenance.

So, what else can you do? 

Here are a few ideas I like to share.

Consider a conversation with a registered dietitian (RD). An RD or a registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN) can help you understand how what you eat contributes to maintaining muscle. In Massachusetts, RD/RDNs are trained and credentialed differently from nutritionists, a distinction that may be important to you.

Consider a body composition scan. A body composition scan is a noninvasive test that helps you understand how much — and where on your body — you are carrying muscle, bone and fat. Your in-home body composition scale can tell you something about your body composition. For a more clinically valid assessment, consider one of the third-party providers that offer this testing. Often, your FSA or HSA will cover the testing fee.

Keep moving outside of your workouts. Waiting at school for a child to finish sports practice? Park your car and walk the campus. Try climbing a flight or two of stairs instead of taking the elevator. Running errands? Park farther from your destination for a quick fitness boost.

What if life gets in the way? When other responsibilities take priority over fitness, that’s OK. Focus on defense rather than offense during these periods. If you’re in Tokyo on Tuesday and Warsaw on Wednesday, take a walk in the sunlight, sleep as much as you can and drink plenty of water. Go back to more focused training when you’re in Massachusetts on Monday.

Lisa Keer Carusone is a program manager for Mass General Brigham’s Center for Specialized Healthcare Services. She has a private practice in health and executive coaching. Lisa lives in Weston.