maintain muscle as age

seefin

Im a female in 40s..recently got a dexa scan which showed average of 19% body fat and I weigh normal weight for my height. Ideally I want to stay this shape for as long as I can - not gain any muscle , lose maybe a few lbs fat at some stage but more important is maintaining current body composition into my 50s and beyond. I'm lifting heavy enough (bench press is 66%of body weight for 15 rep sets) If I continue to lift the same weights,reps,sets for the next 10 years,will I preserve muscle mass? I don't want to progress or build more.muscle, just maintain ( I already have sufficiently 'muscly' arms legs and shoulders). Any info I've come across is about gaining lean mass

arybvtcw0eolkf

Ok just from my own personal experience.

As I get older, I'm 50 and have been training since my teens. Apart from the gym & cycling I also train Judo a number of times a week so I'm pretty active.

But as I age I have to watch my diet closer, particularly my carbs ~ thankfully I don't have a sweet or savory tooth and apart from salt I guess my diet could be called 'bland'.

I don't go for muscular gains any more, tbh I'm happy with what I have and had I was shown a photo of myself at 50 thirty years ago and asked would I be happy to have that my honest answer would be absolutely YES.

So, these days I watch my waistline ~ it spreads easily, so low carbs ~ in particular I avoid breads, although I fecking love bread. I don't eat take away's, unless I've had a few pints

I lift, cycle and train Judo (I'm still competitive) as hard and dedicated as ever, I've a fairly high protein diet and fairly low carb & fats.. It works for me, but I'm human too and like my few pints with the lads and honestly these days if I take my eye off the ball I'm up ten kilo's in weeks!.

Hope that gives you a small insight into training, gains and middle age spread as I get older.

Really the trick (for me) is continuity and not taking my eye off the ball or that belly comes on fairly quickly. The lifting, protein and swimming all help maintain my muscle size and density.

Hanley

Everything I've seen says intensity is more import at than volume for muscle maintenance.

So Lower reps in the 80-90%.

BUT that's assuming muscle maintenance is the only goal. Given that you probably want to stay fit and healthy too, some higher rep work and cardio would make sense too.

It's a very common misconception that high reps "tone". Really high reps build. Look at how bodybuilders train!

seefin

Tbh the main reason I'm doing high reps is that I don't have access to a gym at the moment and am using adjustable dumbbells . I find I can't lift heavy and lower reps without machine for barbells(eg for bench press, can't initially get the weight up to start when it's too heavy!) . Ive been doing higher reps so that I could progress for longer without having to go to a gym. I thought that if I could continue to lift what I'm currently lifting then I might maintain muscle? I'll use diet to manage fat gain. I do plenty cardio between walking dogs and cycling for 40 minutes to work most days. My goal is to be the same weight in ten years and same composition. So will doing the same workout for the next ten years help maintain current muscle mass or do I still need to be progress in,albeit at a slow rate? In other words will I eventually have to join a gym which isn't sustainable for me :-(

Transform

variance in what you're doing in your training is important and id emphasise mobility more