Health Benefits of Increased Muscle Mass
Revised by Stephanie Zaban (Registered Kinesiologist & Masters of Kinesiology)Table of Contents
What Is the Importance of Muscle Mass
Building and maintaining muscle mass is one of the best ways to sustain a healthy body and lifestyle. Increasing your muscle mass not only improves your quality of life, but also its longevity. As well, increasing muscle mass can aid in burning fat, preventing injury, provide a reduced risk of disease, and can take a competitive athlete to the next level!
Muscle Mass and Basal Metabolic Rate
When trying to lose excess body fat, it is common for individuals to try to burn off extra fat through aerobic/cardiovascular training. Having a healthy cardiovascular system is very beneficial when considering general health, however, the time it takes to burn a cookie’s worth of calories through aerobic exercise can take upwards of 30+ minutes. There is an easier way to burn extra calories by increasing one’s basal metabolic rate (BMR).
The BMR is the number of calories needed to sustain daily life. By increasing the amount of muscle mass we carry, we can increase the number of calories needed to sustain our daily lives. These extra calories can come from your fat stores which essentially means you could consume more food and remain at the same level of body fat because your increased muscle mass needs more energy. Please keep in mind that this is variable depending on the individual and their diet and exercise routine.
The Impact of Muscle Mass on Joints
Increased muscle mass can also help prevent injury to joints and ligaments, which are often caused by muscle imbalances. These imbalances stem from repetitive poor movement and postures, such as sitting for many consecutive hours or prioritizing one side of the body over the other. Building muscle in weak and inactive areas helps hold joints in proper alignment. When moving through our daily activities, balanced muscle mass will aid in reducing poor movement patterns.
Balanced muscle mass will also place less load on the joints and ligaments, therefore, more load goes through the proper muscle for each movement. Increased muscle mass will also lead to greater power output and athletic ability. This will help to sustain proper alignment of the joints with ease under a variety of loads, making the risk for injury even smaller. Maintaining proper joint alignment under a variety of loads is crucial when considering the health, longevity, and performance output of competitive or recreational athletes.
Muscle Mass and Age
As we age our bodies begin to deteriorate and our systems become less efficient at building and repairing tissue. This is why it is important to build muscle sooner rather than later, especially when considering maintenance of muscle is easier than the initial building of muscle. This is not to say that once you are past your prime, building muscle is a lost cause.
Building muscle has shown significant benefits in the elderly population through a reduction in falls, increased balance/body awareness, and a reduction in degradation of cognition as we age. Therefore, the maintenance or building of muscle as the body ages becomes increasingly important for the elderly population.
Benefits of Increased Muscle Mass
Having an increased muscle mass also has a variety of health benefits when considering sedentary disease prevention or mitigation. Increasing muscle mass can be overlooked when discussing treatment methods for individuals who suffer from type ll diabetes, cardiovascular conditions, and other sedentary diseases. With type ll diabetes, the individual has an inability to absorb their blood sugar due to an insulin intolerance. Muscle mass, especially post-training, absorbs the sugar out of the blood. This reduces the symptoms of diabetes and can limit the reliance on insulin medication.
More muscle mass also has a significant benefit in reducing the symptoms and risks of cardiovascular diseases. There are many forms of cardiac malfunction, however, the symptoms are often similar. As the heart declines in function, more catecholamines, also known as “adrenaline”, are released in the body to help bolster the declining heart function. These catecholamines have a wide array of negative effects on the body if they are chronically being released. The increased catecholamines create inflammation all over the body and in turn negatively affect muscle performance and size. These effects create a cycle of continuous degradation thus decreasing longevity and quality of life.
As the body becomes stressed and weaker due to chronic inflammation, the immune system also declines which leads to increased susceptibility to other diseases. Resistance training for those already suffering from cardiovascular issues will have to be modified to their activity level, however increasing muscle mass will still aid in reducing the effects of this inflammation cycle. The best option for promoting a healthy lifestyle involves prevention strategies surrounding building muscle mass before one’s health is compromised.
Building muscle mass has a multitude of health benefits and should be implemented into everyone’s lifestyle. Whether the goal is to lose fat, improve your health and quality of life, reduce and prevent disease or be the best athlete possible, building muscle mass will always be beneficial. It is never too late to start improving your quality of life by making the acquisition of muscle mass a part of your routine.
How to Gain Muscle Mass
Some individuals may be under the impression that all you have to do to gain muscle mass is be in the gym lifting heavyweights. While resistance training will help to increase muscle mass, you will need to supplement your movement with the proper diet in order to see substantial change. This includes consuming the proper amount of carbohydrates, protein, and healthy fats.
In addition to nutrition, healthy habits such as getting enough sleep and proper hydration are essential to allowing the body to rest and grow. Overall, if you are not eating enough of the right foods, your road to increased muscle mass will be harder and longer.
Muscle Mass Percentage
The percentage of muscle mass each person should have varied depending on their age and gender. While there is no normative data for the exact percentage of muscle mass you should have, generally we see less muscle mass in women and less muscle mass in both genders as you age.
You can measure muscle mass using a few different methods such as MRI’s, a scale, formulas, and Bio-electrical Impedance Analysis (BIA). Each method has its own level of accuracy, with MRI’s arguably being the most accurate method, and scales being the least. If you are interested in learning about your Muscle Mass Percentage, try speaking to your physician to see what methods are available for you.
Skeletal Muscle Mass
Skeletal muscle is one of the main types of muscle found in the body. Skeletal muscles attach to the bones via tendons and are also known as striated muscles because of their appearance. Skeletal muscle mass is the weight of all of the skeletal muscle in the body.
How to Lose Muscle Mass
There are many reasons that one could lose muscle mass. A reduction in muscle mass can occur from injury, inactivity, or disease. Most people would not usually aim to lose muscle mass, but instead are trying to reduce body fat. As we previously mentioned, the benefits of increasing muscle mass are positive for the body, increasing longevity, and reducing the risk of injury and disease.
For most people, losing muscle mass is not a healthy goal. If you believe that you need to lose muscle mass, we encourage you to speak with your doctor to see if a reduction in muscle mass is right for you. If you are advised to lose muscle mass, a reduction in the amount of weight you are lifting, increased performance of cardiovascular exercise, and reducing your carbohydrate and protein intake can help.