Healthcast 694 - Why Muscle Matters

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When I go to Fitness Edge, the place I have worked out with weights twice a week for 38 years, I know I am increasing my muscle mass and my metabolism for the next 72 hours…that’s right, after just an hour of lifting weights, my body burns more calories over the next 3 days.  Lifting weights not only increases muscle mass, strength and is the key element in weight loss, because it raises resting metabolism throughout the day, even while you are sleeping.

As long as I have been a physician, we always knew that exercise was important to health, but not until recently did medicine did not know WHY exercise is so important, and WHAT type of exercise is the most important to healthy aging. Recently the research has exploded with research that supports the metabolic truth that muscle mass, and resistance exercise (weight training, training with bands, calisthenics) is necessary for health and longevity!

Even though this is a complicated science that is primarily addressed to professional athletes, there are several discoveries that everyone can understand and employ in their quest for a long and healthy life.

Muscle Mass, Percent Body fat and Exercising

Your total weight doesn’t matter as much as your total muscle mass and percent body fat.  So, the amount of muscle you have compared to the amount of fat is the key to metabolic health. Muscle burns calories and decreases blood sugar, while fat is metabolically inactive.  However, the amount of muscle you have isn’t as important as how often you use your muscles against gravity.  That is what weight training is: lifting weights against gravity, using barbells, free weights, resistance bands or Nautilus-type machines.

Muscle Is the Major Site of Glucose uptake

The more muscle you have, and the more you exercise them the more blood sugar is metabolized into energy. Your muscles soak up glucose from the blood for 120 minutes after weight training, and insulin sensitivity increases for 16 hours after exercise. Metabolic stimulation continues for 72 hours.

Those people with less muscle who don’t exercise use extra glucose to make fat.

Body Composition is Improved with Weight Training

Body composition can be measured with our InBody Machine.  We follow each of our patient’s body composition instead of just getting a weight. We find that when measuring our patient’s progress, the percent body fat inversely relates to their Basal Metabolic Rate.  In other words, the lower the body fat percentage, the higher the metabolic rate. The higher the body fat %, the lower the number of calories that patient burns at rest.

For example, a woman with 40% body fat, depending on her height, burns about 1,100 calories over 24 hours when at rest.  If the same woman achieves the ideal percent body fat with medical dieting and achieves less than 26% body fat, she will increase her BMI to over 1,400 calories/ day at rest. Weight training alone will increase muscle mass and decrease fat with the outcome of increasing basal metabolic rate, so she will burn her calories instead of storing them as fat.

In short, weight training to increase muscle mass will decrease body fat and improve metabolic health.

Weight Training Can Reverse the Loss of Muscle that Comes with Aging

The above statement is a tricky statement.  Women can exercise with weights their whole life and maintain a healthy body composition until they turn 45, then weight training just can’t do the job without adding testosterone pellets.  It is the magic of testosterone pellets—Testosterone PLUS Weight Training increases and sustains muscle mass.

“I have worked out with weights since my residency when I was 28 yo.  I realized that because I was 5-3 and 118 lbs, I would not be strong enough to do my job, delivering babies, operating and lifting patients on and off the table.  I began with a Nautilus circuit followed by 10 minutes on the treadmill 2-3 times a week. After I delivered my daughter, Rachel, I was 31 and I started training with a trainer because to get y body and strength back, I needed someone to make me accountable and to guide me to gaining strength where I needed it.  I have lifted weights 2-3 times a week ever since at my training facility, Fitness Edge, across the street from my current medical office. As of last week my body fat is 19%, and my weight is now 113.  I have shrunk a bit and am now 5-2.

When I go to the Fitness Edge with my husband, John, I notice that many of the hardest working “fellow exercisers” never change their body composition. I would love to tell my fellow lifters that working out with weights is only part of the program to becoming strong and building good muscle mass.   The fact is they need to increase their testosterone level if they are over 40 for females and 50 for males, to improve their muscle mass and decrease body fat, and their hard work will be repaid with visible, stronger muscles, Fat loss and improved and metabolism.”

Dr. Maupin’s Formula for Building Muscle after age 40:

• Weight Training 2-3 times a week
• Testosterone Pellet treatment in women over 40 and men over 50
• Diet must include the number of grams of protein equal to your weight
• Low carb high protein/healthy fat diet
• Eliminate food with preservatives, canned food and processed food. Eat whole/fresh foods.
• Supplement with Creatine (if your kidneys are healthy), Arginine, Vitamin D, E, K and Vitamin C, multi vitamin with Methyl B12 and Methyl Folate, Probiotics, Magnesium 400-800 mg/day, Protein powder without Soy.
• Water consumption in oz = to ½-1x your weight in pounds

If I have convinced you to start using weights regularly, here are the variety of types of resistance training that will build muscle and improve metabolism. Must exercise for 50 minutes at one time per day.

• Resistance Band Work Outs- you can do anywhere even at home.
• Body weight exercises like squats, push-ups, lunges, planks
• Free weights using dumbbells, kettle balls, bars
• Weight Machines that target one muscle group at a time.

 

Now I Can Almost Hear Half of You Asking What About Aerobic Exercise?

My best friend is a runner, and she has run marathons for decades, and now in her 60s, she is still fit and healthy without joint damage.  Most of her fellow runners don’t know that she also lifts weights to keep her in the running game…and she takes testosterone pellets. Most runners are fit and have strong hearts, but their muscle mass is not always robust.

Cardio-exercises can improve cardiovascular health and burn calories during the activity itself.

Strength Training builds muscle mass which has a long-term effect on the metabolism.If nothing else, I hope you are inspired to initiate a resistance training program to benefit your metabolism now and for your longevity in the future.  YOU CAN DO IT!