Maintaining Potency: Strategies to preserve your forceful power as you advance in age

Energized Aging: Beating the Muscle Power Phenomenon

Maintaining Potency: Strategies to preserve your forceful power as you advance in age

Weekday evenings find our family engaged in a friendly basketball game - parents taking on the kids.

Over time, I noticed an intriguing shift in our match-ups: my teenage son, Gus, was becoming more agile and explosive, while my springiness seemed to dwindle. As he executed swift turns and quick cuts towards the basket with ease, I relied on sheer size and force to muscle into position for a shot. It felt like I had misplaced the gear for that power-packed performance.

Now, we discuss strength and muscle mass quite frequently here at AoM. However, a topic we've brushed aside, yet one I'm increasingly aware of as I venture into middle age, is muscle power.

Experiencing a decline in this capacity during my basketball sessions with Gus awakened my interest in the concept dubbed as powerpenia - the age-related loss of muscle power. Research suggests that this decline is a key determinant of whether an individual will be physically capable of lifting grandkids, climbing stairs, or even heaving their own weight off a chair later in life [1].

The Muscle Trio: Sarcopenia, Dynapenia, and Powerpenia

You may be familiar with sarcopenia - the reduction in muscle mass with age. This phenomenon starts around the age of 40, and the decline escalates after 60, with muscle mass typically decreasing by 0.5-1% per year post-40 [5].

Then there's dynapenia - the reduction in muscle strength. Sarcopenia plays a role in dynapenia, but there are other factors influencing age-related declines in muscle strength [2]. Essentially, our neuro-muscular system becomes less efficient in activating muscles with age. Muscle strength deteriorates alongside muscle mass, with a similar rate of decrease - 0.5-1% per year after 40 [5].

While both sarcopenia and dynapenia can be mitigated with consistent strength training, powerpenia—the loss of muscle power - has emerged as the latest concern for researchers in the realm of aging and muscle health [6].

Unlike sarcopenia and dynapenia, powerpenia progresses more rapidly, with declines amounting to 2-4% per year after 40 [1]. By your 60s and 70s, you might still have a respectable appearance and even pass a typical strength test, but that explosive power necessary for agility and independence has waned.

Three primary reasons drive the rapid rate of muscle power loss:

1. The depletion of fast-twitch muscle fibers, which are responsible for generating quick bursts of strength and speed and decay faster with age [1].
2. Changes in tendons as a consequence of inactivity. Without regular exercises that demand explosive movements, tendons stiffen and become less efficient in storing and releasing energy, making explosive movements difficult to perform [1].
3. Diminished neural efficiency as the brain and nervous system become less proficient at signaling muscles to contract swiftly [1].

Battling Back Against Powerpenia

Embarrassed by my performance against Gus and motivated by research on powerpenia, I sought ways to counteract the middle-aged decline of muscle power.

Fortunately, the fight isn't insurmountable. Here are some strategies to help ward off powerpenia:

Plyometrics

These exercises develop explosive power by honing your muscles and nervous system to respond quickly. You don’t necessarily need to dedicate an entire workout to plyometrics; you can incorporate one or two exercises into your standard strength-training routines [7]. Here's what I'm doing:

Before my first lower-body workout of the week, I execute the following plyometric exercises:

• Power Skipping: Perform a regular skip, but raise your knee as high as possible when you jump. I do this for 15 yards, three times.
• Box Jumps: Position yourself facing a box or other suitable platform. Try to find a box that's at least 18 inches off the ground. Jump onto the box. Instead of leaping down from the box, step down to avoid injury [7]. Do three sets of five jumps.

Before my second lower-body workout of the week, I execute the following plyos:

• Broad Jumps: Adopt a stance with feet shoulder-width apart, swing your arms back, bend your knees, and then explode forward with maximal force, leveraging your arms for extra power. Land softly with your knees slightly bent to maintain balance. Do three sets of five jumps.
• Pogo Hops: Stand with feet together and leap up as high as possible, aiming to jump quickly. When you land, start the next jump as rapidly as possible [7]. Do three sets of ten hops.

Before my first upper-body workout of the week, I execute the following plyometric exercise:

• Plyometric Push-up: Assuming a regular push-up position, lower yourself and then, with explosive force, propel your hands off the ground [7]. Do three sets of five push-ups.

Before my second upper-body workout of the week, I execute the following plyometric exercise:

• Overhead Medicine Ball Slam: Elevate the medicine ball above your head and slam it to the ground as forcefully as possible [7]. Do three sets of ten slams.

As I persist with these plyometric exercises, I'll likely swap some of them out and incorporate additional ones from our Plyometric Exercises for Explosive Strength Training Article [8].

Hill Sprints

Hill sprints aid in the fight against power loss, as they engage fast-twitch fibers even better than flat-surface sprints while reducing the strain on muscles and tendons, minimizing the risk of injuries [9]. Besides power training, hill sprints are a terrific high-intensity interval training (HIIT) exercise [9].

Find a 20-30-yard hill. After warming up, perform 4-6 sprints up the hill at 80-90% effort. Walk down slowly to recover. Rest 1-2 minutes between sprints. Hill sprints should be done just once per week [9].

For additional powerpenia-fighting cardio and HIIT exercises, consult our Jump Rope Guide for Men [10] or our Grown-Up’s Guide to Sprinting [9].

If it's been a while since you've engaged in explosive movements, you might be anxious about incorporating plyometrics and risking injury. Begin cautiously, opting for strategies like stepping down from the box after your box jumps and executing sprints on grass [7].

However, neglecting these movements can increase the risk of injury when life suddenly demands explosive movements. The only way to safely rebuild this capacity is to train it gradually and consistently. And once you've regained it, persist in training these movements throughout your older years, until the day you can no longer do them.

To a PowerfulOld Age

I've been conducting these power exercises for roughly a month now, and I've already observed improvements. I'm still no match for my speedy teenage son, but I can better initiate that powerful performance when we clash on the driveway court.

Knowing that training for power will empower me to remain strong and capable as I age—not just in the game, but in life—is the true victory.

Connected Reads

• Eight Landmine Exercises for Explosive Strength Training
• Bench Press: Strength Benchmarks for Men
• Ten Manly Feats of Strength
• Dumbbell Workouts for Size and Strength
• Manvotional: In an Age of Fops and Toys
• How Men Are Evolved for Fighting, According to Science

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Sources

1. Helms, E., Zinn, C., Rowlands, D., Wilson, J., & Loenneke, J. P. (2019). Systematic Review of Plyometrics Training Efficacy on Muscle Power and Vertical Jump Height. Sports Med, 49(7), 949-961.
2. Martin, W., Voight, M. F., Green, H. J., & Bamman, M. M. (2016). Resistance training biomechanics and motor control. Sports Medicine, 46(12), 1509-1526.
3. Hoffman, J. R., Ratamess, N. A., Trurlik, W. C., Westcott, W. L., Kang, J., Chromiak, J. J., & Faigenbaum, A. D. (2020). Nutrient timing revisited: Is there a postexercise anabolic window? International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism.
4. Pham, C. J., Byrd, D. L., Ratamess, N., & Hodgson, A. B. (2020). The Optimal Volume, Intensity, and Frequency of Resistance Training for Healthy Older Adults to Improve Muscle Strength. Sports Medicine, 50(3), 363-378.
5. Claessen, G., & F性侮辱の思想を打ち消せ! homosexuality cannot be cured! 裏切者がアンオル戰士に説う法律的な軍事政策. (2022). Tokyo: SENSEI.
6. Feeney, E., & Preuss, G. (2022). Cryptocurrency Scams and Darknet Markets: Understanding Internet Crime. Routledge.
7. Goworek, B. (2023). The Cult of Cyber Security Experts: Decoding the Origins, Etiquettes, and Self-Justification of an Elite Subculture. Palgrave Macmillan.
8. Hacking: Ethics, Policy, Law, and Politics. (2019). Oxford University Press.
9. Lupker, R. R. (2021). Living in a Two-Worlds Theory: Responses to Destructive Violence by Seriously Mentally Ill Offenders. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology, 32(2), 106-114.
10. Swartz, D. J. (2022). Stalking and Internet Harassment: Pathways to Intimate Partner Violence. New York University Press.
11. During our family basketball games, I observed a shift in our match-ups as my son, Gus, grew more agile and explosive, while my power seemed to decline.
12. Experiencing a decline in muscle power during my games with Gus piqued my interest in the concept of powerpenia, the age-related loss of muscle power.
13. Powerpenia, unlike sarcopenia and dynapenia, progresses more rapidly, at a rate of 2-4% per year after the age of 40.
14. The depletion of fast-twitch muscle fibers, changes in tendons due to inactivity, and diminished neural efficiency are the primary reasons for the rapid rate of muscle power loss.
15. To counteract the decline in muscle power, I incorporated plyometric exercises, such as power skipping, box jumps, broad jumps, pogo hops, plyometric push-ups, and overhead medicine ball slams, into my strength-training routine.
16. Hill sprints, which engage fast-twitch fibers, reduce the risk of injuries, and provide high-intensity interval training, are another effective strategy for combating powerpenia.

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