Latest / The Body Recomposition Revolution | Fat Loss and Strength for Women 35+ / How to Stop Losing Muscle After 30 Naturally and Why it Happens

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How to Stop Losing Muscle After 30 Naturally and Why it Happens · The Body Recomposition Revolution | Fat Loss and Strength for Women 35+

• 0:00
  Hey, welcome back ladies to the body recomposition revolution.
• 0:03
  This is Robin. Today we are going to dive into
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  the science behind why women lose muscle after age 30 and
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  what you can do to stop it. Some of the common wonderments I
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  hear from my clients, from women on Instagram, from Spotify
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  podcast, Apple podcast, in my e-mail can all kind of be boiled
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  down to two questions. Which are why does my body feel
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  softer or flabby? Or insert term not mine, yours
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  term after I'm 30 even though I'm working out?
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  Or why does fat loss feel harder even though I'm eating clean?
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  Those two questions are always kind of rephrased and on repeat
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  at all times. And I love them because I can
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  answer them with science. Because it is absolutely not
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  just you. It is not in your head.
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  After age 30, women do start losing muscle.
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  There are real physiological occurrences that are happening
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  in your body and today you are going to learn what they are and
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  how we can combat them. And before I begin, I would like
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  to mention you might hear some pages because I at this moment
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  have both copies of Doctor Stacey Sims book Roar and then
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  her other book Next Level. These books are actually one of
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  the reasons I started my business.
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  All of my philosophies kind of coincide with Doctor Stacey Sims
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  research, which primarily revolves around a woman's
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  Physiology and how it changes after age 35 in relation to
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  nutrition and your size and blah blah, blah.
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  But if you hear pages, that is because they have my little
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  fitness Bible on my lap and it's the work from Doctor Stacey
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  Sims. So pre mentioning that.
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  And if you are a reader, you can buy her books on Amazon.
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  Again, they are Roar and Next Level, and they're also
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  available on Spotify to listen to if you're more of a listener.
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  Let's talk about muscle. Around age 30, women begin
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  losing muscle at a very slow rate, about 3% per decade.
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  And it does not seem like a big deal, but it really, really is.
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  Because as a woman, one of your most precious and powerful
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  assets is your muscle mass. Why is your muscle mass
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  important? Well, that's going to dictate
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  how independent you are in the future.
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  But for aesthetic reasons, that's what gives your body
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  shape. That's what gives you the toned
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  look. Now, I hate the word tone, but
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  I'm going to use it because I know you know what I mean.
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  So we're speaking the same language.
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  Toned means muscle. When you want a toned look, that
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  means that you have less body fat and you can kind of kind of
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  see the muscles on your body. So aesthetically, the amount of
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  muscle you have, it matters, and more importantly, the amount of
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  muscle you have determines how strong you are, how capable you
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  are, how independent you will be 10/20/30 years from now.
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  As I stated, your muscle after age 30, it does gradually
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  decrease and that matters. That really, really matters.
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  I'm using the term gradual, but 3% per decade, it really adds up
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  quickly. It compounds and that's a huge
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  problem. So by the time you're 404550,
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  you're not just dealing with gaining fat, you're dealing with
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  less muscle underneath your body.
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  And remember, the muscle is what gives your body shape.
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  So as you enter your 30s and you progress towards your 40s, your
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  50s, and you start noticing, wow, my body looks a little bit
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  different, hmm. My body's responding a little
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  bit differently. Hmm.
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  Well, this is science. It's because your muscle mass is
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  gradually decreasing. Unless you do something to
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  combat that, your muscle mass is getting lower, which means your
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  body is going to take on a more not as toned look.
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  Or you might have a skinny fat look if you're still keeping up
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  with your cardio. And if you're not keeping up
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  with any sort of lifting or physical activity, you're just
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  going to be gaining weight, gaining fat, because muscle is
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  also what keeps your metabolism higher.
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  It is the determining factor in how you look.
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  Now, apart from the obvious benefits that muscle has
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  physiologically in terms of how it affects your quality of life,
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  right now I'm just discussing aesthetically.
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  So when women say I feel softer, I look different, I feel skinny
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  fat. My body does not do what it used
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  to do. They are not crazy in the least.
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  We are just missing one piece. And it's not just fat gain, it's
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  muscle loss. To really drive this point home,
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  I have to read an excerpt from Doctor Stacey Sims book.
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  It talks about the researchers of the landmark Framingham
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  Disability Study and how they reported that 40% of women
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  between the ages of 55 and 6445% of women between the ages of 65
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  and 74, and 65% of women between the ages of 65 and 84 reported
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  that they could not lift 10 lbs. 10 lbs.
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  OK, that is like a case of toilet paper.
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  That is nothing. Can you imagine not lifting 10
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  lbs? That is where you are headed if
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  you're not doing all the things to combat that.
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  Now, if you're like me and you need to understand why, which
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  most people do need to understand why to actually have
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  a change in their behavior, there's a reason.
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  There's a reason that you lose muscle after age 30, and it's
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  hormonal. I wish I could rewind time back
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  to when I had hired a professional to help me figure
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  out what was going on with my body.
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  You know, I had always been training and lifting and eating
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  the things that I knew what to do.
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  And after I turned 34 or five, Steph just wasn't doing the
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  stuff. And my tuner kept saying, well,
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  hormones this and hormones that into me.
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  I'm like whatever, that has nothing to do with it, but it
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  really does. So if you have that mindset,
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  mindset of like who cares about hormones?
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  You should care about hormones because hormones are what
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  creates your body composition. That dog, let me explain.
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  Estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, those 3 hormones
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  are what have to kind of work together to cultivate an
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  environment where your body is building muscle, burning fat,
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  and doing all the things that it's always done and the way
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  that it's always done them physiologically.
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  But after you turn 30, you are biologically changing a bit, and
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  so you have to change the stimulus that you're applying to
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  your body in order to have your body maintain the composition it
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  had prior to Those physiological changes that are happening
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  because of the estrogen, the testosterone and the
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  progesterone fluctuations that whether you like it or not,
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  whatever you do, they do start to happen after age 30.
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  Very brief synopsis of what these three hormones do.
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  Estrogen helps us recovery. It supports your muscle growth.
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  It helps us repairing those muscles after you tear them up
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  in the gym. It also helps you maintain lean
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  muscle mass. It is good for your metabolism.
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  Think of estrogen as fat burning, muscle building fuel.
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  When your estrogen estrogen starts fluctuating as it does
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  after 30, your workouts feel harder, your recovery is not
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  happening, and your strength is inconsistent and you might not
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  notice that until or unless you are a lifter.
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  Like for you it might look something similar to some days
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  you can do a pull up, some days you can do 2 pull ups, other
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  days you can barely do a dead hang which is just hanging from
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  the bar. Your strength is fluctuating
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  because your estrogen is also fluctuating.
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  And then you have progesterone. And progesterone is kind of the
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  opposite of estrogen in my brain.
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  It kind of has more of a catabolic effect on your body.
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  So it actually can be supportive of muscle growth or it can make
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  you more prone to muscle breaking down.
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  It kind of binds. It's a testosterone binder.
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  So when I think of progesterone and having those levels be
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  elevated, to me that's red flag. No, don't want that.
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  But it does have to coincide with estrogen in your system,
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  and as those two hormones fluctuate at different times at
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  different periods, that creates an atmosphere in your body that
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  is not conducive to build muscle.
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  On to testosterone. Yes, you have testosterone.
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  So as your testosterone is starting to decline even even
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  just a little bit, that has an impact on your strength gains.
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  That has an impact on the amount of muscle tone you can visibly
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  see in your body and it is much more difficult to maintain the
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  muscle mass you do have. So when you combine those 3
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  hormones and their fluctuations which are completely normal,
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  that is what's to be expected in your life.
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  You have a recipe that is just as I said, it's an environment
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  that is not supporting body composition.
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  But there's a way we can combat this and that is training hard.
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  All you ladies who are doing cardio or Orangetheory classes
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  endlessly, that is not the type of training I'm talking about.
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  Actually in Stacey Sims book it says after age 40 high levels of
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  aerobic activity do not translate into any meaningful
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  changes in lean body mass. The only solution to drop your
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  fat to maintain your muscle is strength training.
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  It has to be strength training and we are not talking about 5
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  LB dumbbells or Pilates or any sort of class.
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  You need to apply the stimulus to the muscles that will
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  actually produce change, and that requires pretty pretty
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  heavy weights, pretty high intensity.
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  While you are lifting these heavy weights, your goal is to
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  activate as many muscle fibers as you can.
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  I, when I'm lifting A heavyweight, like if I'm doing a
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  hip thrust, I am mentally envisioning my glute muscles
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  firing, all kicking into gear, some of them snapping and
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  tearing. Really I am.
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  It's intense, my hamstrings, every part of that movement.
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  I am envisioning my muscles engaging.
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  I want to go so heavy. I want to recruit the maximum
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  amount of engagement from the muscles that I'm asking to
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  complete the task. The task being the hip thrust.
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  And those types of muscle fibers are your type 2.
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  OK, because you have two different types.
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  You have type 1. Those are your endurance fibers.
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  That is what sticks around in women.
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  So you don't need to worry about those.
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  Those are what are ignited when you're running and doing long
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  distance things and not applying the stimulus.
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  I'm talking about type 2 are the muscle fibers that are going to
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  give you shape and tone. Those are the ones we lose with
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  age. Those are the ones we need to
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  stimulate through heavy strength training.
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  Now you might be thinking how heavy is heavy enough?
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  Because it's a really subjective term like lift heavy.
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  What does that mean? And it's and it's different
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  across the board. But I love the test that Doctor
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  Stacey Sims puts in her book and I will just read this.
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  It says how heavy is heavy enough?
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  Pick up a weight and lift it 8 times.
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  How hard are those last two reps?
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  You have chosen the right weight if you are barely able to eke
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  out the final Rep while maintaining good form.
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  So for me to put it into context, if I'm going to do a
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  bicep curl, OK, I might grab some 10 LB dumbbells.
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  I wouldn't. But if I was a newbie, I'll grab
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  some 10 LB dumbbells. If I do eight of those and that
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  was easy peasy. That's that's too light.
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  If I'm not struggling to complete those last two reps, I
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  have to bump up the weight. And this is applied across the
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  board. If I'm doing a squat and I'm
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  using a rack or even a machine, say I'm doing a squat and I put
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  £100 on there and I easily crank out eight reps Was I struggling
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  with the last two? No.
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  So add some weight. Keep adding weight to whatever
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  exercise you're doing until you can barely finish the last two
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  reps of eight. If you can barely finish those
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  last two reps, you are lifting heavy enough.
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  Strategy #2 To stop the inevitable muscle loss that
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  happens after age 30, you need to challenge your muscles so
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  your body adapts really quickly. If your workouts are becoming
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  lighter and kind of less structured and more cardio
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  based, which I fall into this trap all the time.
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  Sometimes I just find myself heading towards the treadmill
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  because I haven't planned out my week.
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  I haven't planned out my lifts, I haven't updated my this or
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  that. And so I just kind of mindlessly
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  go through the motions of being at the gym.
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  This isn't common for me because I, I know when I'm doing it, I'm
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  aware and I really am focused on building muscle.
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  But sometimes I'll just be going through the motions.
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  I'll go to the treadmill, Maybe I'll do some light intervals,
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  who knows. Then I'll go over here and do
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  some of these. Oh, whatever.
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  My body is not challenged during that workout.
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  Your workout needs to be hard. Your workout needs to be hard.
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  If your workout is not hard, that means your body has adapted
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  to it and you need to increase the intensity, whatever that
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  might be. Maybe you increase the reps,
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  maybe you increase the weight you're lifting.
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  Maybe you really hone in on mind to muscle connection and just go
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  slow and change the tempo of your lifts.
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  You need to do something because if your body has no reason to
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  keep the muscle, it's going to let it go.
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  So if your workout is not hard, your body says, well, I don't
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  have to build muscle for this activity.
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  And it literally has no reason to keep the muscle to build the
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  muscle because you're not challenging your body enough.
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  So less cardio, switch things up and really challenge your body.
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  Make that work out hard strategy #3 to combat that muscle loss,
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  you have to eat enough. If you haven't listened to my
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  last two episodes on low energy availability, I am telling you
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  this is I, I think it's honestly more common than what research
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  stage, which states, which is 50% of women who identify as
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  active are suffering with Lea, which is low energy
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  availability, which just means that you are not giving your
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  body enough calories to actually feel safe enough to let go of
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  body fat. Your body doesn't feel safe
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  enough to build muscle. So I have these women, my
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  clients, who oftentimes they are very similar in personality
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  types. They are higher achievers, they
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  are detail oriented, and they really, really care about their
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  health. Most of my clients are
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  struggling with low energy availability.
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  They're not fueling their body enough to build muscle.
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  You can't build muscle when you're not giving your body the
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  building blocks to build it. That's like saying build a
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  house, but I'm not going to give you any materials to do that.
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  It really is. That's, as I said in a couple of
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  my episodes, that's the issue with GOP ones is you can't build
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  muscle while on a GOP1 unless you're eating enough protein to
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  actually build the muscle. And not just protein, you have
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  to be eating enough carbs and fats as well.
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  Now that right there, eating enough carbs, that is imperative
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  for women after the age of 35 because carbohydrates play an
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  even more critical role in your body composition at this point.
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  So as a general rule of thumb from Doctor Stacy Sims book, she
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  prescribes about 40% of your daily caloric intake to be
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  coming from carbohydrates. That's best for athletes.
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  It's best for body composition, it's best for building muscle
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  and dropping fat. So remember, roughly 40% of your
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  intake should be coming from carbohydrates.
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  For me, I like to have about 39% of my food coming from
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  carbohydrates. I have roughly 40% of my food
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  coming from protein and the remainder is fat.
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  That is a great formula for my body to drop fat and build
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  muscle. The final strategy to stop that
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  muscle loss after age 30 is to cut down your cardio.
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  OK, cardio burns calories, but it does not send that strong
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  signal to build or maintain muscle.
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  Remember, cardio is type 1 muscle fibers.
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  US women, we don't need to worry about type one.
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  We keep those. We hold on to those.
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  Those are endurance fibers. The long lean ones that come
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  from running and doing all these long bouts of cardio you're used
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  to doing. But we don't need to work on
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  those because we want to build muscle.
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  We want to ignite our type twos. Remember the ones that actually
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  give us shape? The tone you're talking about,
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  the only way to see that tone is to really build up those type 2
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  shaping muscle fibers. You cannot do that with cardio.
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  That's not the objective of cardio.
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  Cardio's objective is aerobic fitness.
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  It's still, you know, burn calories, whatever it may be,
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  but your objective with cardio is not going to coincide with
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  muscle building unless you use it really strategically.
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  Doctor Stacey Sims talks about high intensity intervals for
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  cardio, Sprint interval training for cardio.
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  I have some episodes on that if you want more information
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  pertaining to the types of cardio that she prescribes and I
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  also prescribe to my clients and zone 2.
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  So zone 2 is great. Zone 2 means that you find your
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  heart rate zones, it's about 5 of them, and you stay within
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  your zone to your second zone because that is the fat burning
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  zone where your body is primarily running on its fat
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  stores as fuel instead of carbohydrates.
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  So keep your cardio strategic and keep your lifting sessions.
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  2 to 5 ladies, 2 to 5 high intensity.
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  Now I made this silly little acronym for my clients to help
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  them remember the rules for making muscle and call them the
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  RAC rules. So R resistance that challenges
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  you. You need to lift heavy enough to
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  stimulate the muscle and remember that eight Rep rule.
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  If you're lifting with eight reps and you can easily complete
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  the last two, you got to go up and weight.
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  OK? That's how you know that the
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  resistance is challenging enough to actually build muscle.
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  A. The A of our rack rules to build
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  muscle apply progressive overload.
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  Your body adapts fast. You have to give it a reason to
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  change. So over time, increase the
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  weight that you're lifting, increase the reps, change up the
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  tempo, change up the exercises. As I said, your body adapts
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  fast. You have to give it a reason to
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  change. No progression, no change.
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  And C Consistency over perfection.
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  You do not need perfect workouts.
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  Sometimes you're going to walk into the gym, do a couple of
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  things and walk out. And that's OK because you're
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  building the habit. You are consistently repeating
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  the action that you want ingrained in your mindset as
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  your identity. If you want to be somebody who
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  goes to the gym five times a week and one of those workouts
• 19:08
  is crappy, but you still got there, you did it.
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  You completed your objective. You solidified the habit.
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  You are consistently repeating the action that you want to be
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  part of your identity. Consistency builds the muscle
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  that you want to see. In closing, remember that muscle
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  loss after 30 is normal. What's happening to your body is
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  physiologically expected. You are not broken.
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  There is nothing wrong with you, but staying that way is
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  optional. Once you understand that you
• 19:40
  have options and that you can empower yourself through
• 19:44
  education and the choices you make, that you can combat those
• 19:47
  physiological changes to see what you want to see, to feel
• 19:51
  how you want to feel, that's when you will actually start
• 19:54
  seeing change. You have to stop chasing that
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  small, tiny physique because if you chase that after age 30,
• 20:02
  you're going to be frail, skinny fat, fall apart, and you're
• 20:06
  going to keep a lot of fat in your midsection to be honest.
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  It's just, it's, it is what it is.
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  It's your body's defense mechanism of you starving it.
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  So stop chasing smaller, start building stronger, get
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  consistent in the gym, empower yourself with education, and do
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  what you need to do to see the changes.
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  You want to see? Thank you for listening, ladies.
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  If you do want custom macro formulations, custom strength
• 20:29
  training programs, my coaching client list is at capacity right
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  now, but I may or may not have some spots going into the
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  summer. So if you need anything, don't
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  hesitate to e-mail me at racracrecomposition@gmail.com.
• 20:45
  And as I always say, ladies, please put your questions on
• 20:48
  Spotify or you could even put them on Instagram wherever you
• 20:52
  want because I would love for women to see your questions.
• 20:55
  Many of you have the same questions.
• 20:57
  And to me, it is so empowering to see women ask those questions
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  that they're not afraid of how they look or what they might
• 21:05
  portray. Ask your questions, there is no
• 21:09
  bad question except for the one that goes unasked.
• 21:11
  So thank you for your emails, your messages, your kind words.
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  I read them all. I might not be able to get back
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  to all of them at all times, but I read them all.
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  They fill my heart and they motivate me to keep doing what
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  I'm doing for you ladies. So have a great week and you'll
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  hear from me soon.