Fitness Fact: Muscles = Metabolism, Really?

June 23, 2010 General Interest

Each month I try to write a little blurb on something exercise-related and I stumbled across an interesting tid- bit while preparing for a recent seminar.

Once we hit our 30’s, our Resting Energy Expenditure* begins to decline by .8% for women and 1% for men each decade.  Translation: in our 30’s our metabolism begins to slow down.

*REE = 55-75% of the calories or energy our body expends in a day.  These are involuntary, life sustaining activities like breathing, circulation, hormone secretion, and nerve/brain activity.

How does this decline happen? Through the loss 1.5-2 pounds of lean body mass per year.  Yikes!

But here’s the good news.  We can off-set this age-related muscle loss by strength training.  Whoohoo!!!  A simple 20-30 min a couple of times a week is all it takes.

So join a strength training class, buy an exercise video and some dumbbells, or start by climbing stairs.  Every little bit counts!