Unfortunately, muscle-building training is still often referred to as dull pumping – the reputation is rather mediocre…

On the one hand, this is due to the fitness industry, which specifically addresses the target group’s “pain points” with exaggerated claims and promises of success, thus creating an image that is only about the firm butt and the six-pack. On the other hand, strength training is what immediately comes to mind Muscle shops and bodybuilders.

The role of the muscles in the organism is much more profound:

• It regulates hormones
• It protects organs
• Reduces inflammation
• Strengthens the immune system

Last but not least, the WHO has now recognized that people are losing more and more muscle mass. She recommends at least 2 units of strength training per week.

Endurance training alone is no longer enough. Intensive exercise and strength training is also recommended for older people. Many people need to understand that there must be a certain ratio of muscle mass to fat mass in order to keep hormonal processes in balance. Men consist of around 40% muscle mass, women around 30 – 35%. If the ratio is poor, you can see changes in sex and growth hormones, for example.

A normal muscle proportion has a preventive effect

• Alzheimer’s
• Dementia
• Type 2 diabetes or insulin resistance

In addition, your heart is relieved because the muscles support the passive musculoskeletal system. A low muscle percentage puts strain on the heart because it has to do more. It’s like having a two-stroke engine power a truck.

In the past, sports medicine has postulated endurance training to improve internal systems. That’s changing. Doctors now recommend strength training. And especially as you get older, classic cardiovascular training becomes less and less important and muscle building training becomes more important. Muscles are endocrine, i.e. active in a hormone-like manner. They release messenger substances such as myokines. They ensure that many internal organs remain active and healthy. And send signals that stimulate brain activity and performance.

It is only in recent years that science has been able to demonstrate in detail how diverse the positive effects of strength training are. They range from the well-known, strengthening effects on muscles, tendons, ligaments, cartilage and joints to improving cardiovascular function and therapeutic benefits in the treatment of mental illnesses.

How do I know my muscle or fat percentage?

I mainly use my reflection in the mirror. Here you can clearly see where and how much fat, i.e. soft tissue, and muscle, i.e. tight, firm tissue, is on my body. Libra is a false friend; it doesn’t measure how much fat you’ve lost. Muscle mass weighs approximately 13 percent more than fat mass. I use professional bioimpedance analysis for my customers; This sends electricity through the entire body, not just the legs like the fat scales at home. And depending on the speed, you can calculate how much inhibitory and non-inhibitory mass (skeletal muscles) is present.

Muscle training is not just about changing strength. The adaptation phenomena range from

• Speed of activation,
• reactivity,
• to mobility.

Improving reactivity prevents falls, which often lead to hospitalizations in older people and often start a cascade of other illnesses. Strength training also works to develop the length of your muscles. If the tendons are shortened or the fascia is stuck together, mobility is reduced. Many will know it. Reduced mobility inevitably leads to complaints such as back pain or headaches. It’s also about coordination, i.e. the interaction of the different muscle groups. Most of my clients do not manage to adequately integrate the posterior chain, i.e. the back of the legs and gluteal muscles, into movements, simply because they are atrophied.

So it’s no longer just about optics. A beautiful body is a nice side effect and of course has an impact on the psyche, but performance should still be the focus. And if possible, until old age. Age-related muscle loss begins as early as the age of 30. This is a natural process and the less you signal to the muscle that it is needed, the faster this process will take place. By the way, women are at a hormonal disadvantage here. They change much more quickly during menopause because they have 10 to 15 percent less muscle mass. Menopausal symptoms are also muscle mass problems. In order to maintain muscle mass, i.e. to keep the metabolism in balance, women need more training. In order for this metabolism to initiate structural processes, it needs enough energy or kcal and the building material protein. However, this is often neglected in today’s diet. Relatively speaking, most people eat a lot more carbohydrates than protein. Carbohydrates in particular depend heavily on the activity level and – as you probably know – for most people this is limited to around 8 hours of sitting at a desk per day.

In the past ten years, the annual number of publications on the topic of insulin resistance (later type 2 diabetes) has tripled. Insulin resistance affects up to 50% of adults worldwide. Since insulin resistance is primarily a problem of wealth, the prevalence in some Western countries could even be higher than the unreported figure.

The work “Sport is the real polypill” was published in the respected specialist magazine Physiology in 2013. The author, Carmen Fiuza-Luces (University of Madrid), writes there:

With this in mind:
Stay healthy, your Health Coach Bardo!