Muscle mass not only makes you look better, it is also an essential part of your overall health. This is the result of a beautiful study that examined the influence of muscle mass on health. People with more muscle live longer!

Reason enough to take a look at why muscle mass and how much is healthy, how you build it up, how much testosterone you need for it, how you calculate it and how you measure it. All of this in one article!

Why is more muscle healthy?

Muscles improve your insulin sensitivity. One of their most important properties is the storage of glycogen (split carbohydrates), which can be used as fuel for your body. When stored in muscle cells, it contributes much better to your overall metabolism, rather than being stored in fat cells. The more efficient your body is in it, the healthier you are. The more inefficient your body is, the closer you are to diseases like diabetes.

Muscle mass is also strongly associated with increased bone density. It’s no secret that strength training strengthens bones, connective tissue, and tendons. It’s especially good to know if you have a genetic predisposition to osteoporosis.

Testosterone is also stimulated by weight training. There is no better natural way to boost testosterone than weight training. By the way, sleep comes second.

Training relieves stress, especially if you sit at the desk a lot. Exercise balances mental work and vice versa. In the end, you use your working time more productively, even though you seem to lose time at first glance.

How much muscle is healthy for your age?

I once looked at the data from> 200,000 international studies ( source ). The data sets are not perfect, but they are representative of the trends and therefore meaningful enough.

Muscle mass peaks in men aged 21-25. BUT: When you do sports, the situation is very different. In this case, you can build up your muscle mass much longer and hold it for a very, very long time. Until you are 40 years old, you hold at least the same level as when you were born. Even at 60, you only lose 4% muscle – not that much! If you do strength training, the percentage is of course much higher.

At around 80 years old we see a drastic reduction in muscle mass in men.

The fat percentage, on the other hand, increases almost annually. In the 30s, it rose noticeably faster. Of course, here again, you don’t do any sport. With sports, the KFA is very controllable over a lifespan, provided you eat accordingly.

If we put muscle mass over fat mass, we see that the male (and female) body tends to have more fat and less muscle over time.

The reason is evolutionary in nature: after 30 years, most men have reproduced and high testosterone is no longer needed.

The situation is similar for women, with the difference that they have less muscle and more fat mass from birth.

It is interesting to see that women see a rapid “crash” in muscle mass. At 65, the body lets a lot more muscles go (approx. 3%), while this only occurs in men at around 80 years! That’s why strength training is all the more important for women. Unfortunately, however, many prefer to do cardio because they think they will lose weight #sadworld.

As you can guess, the percentage of fat increases in women as well as in men, but much faster in young years (up to about 20). Again, the reason for this is evolution: women need more fat mass due to pregnancy. At around 50 years of age, the percentage of fat increases significantly again. I say it again: these developments only take place in this mas if you are not doing sports and do not pay attention to your diet.

For women, 50 is definitely an age when a lot happens: a greater increase in fat mass and a decrease in muscle mass. This is strongly related to the menopause and the resulting hormonal changes.

The best antidote is also here: sport. The trends for men and women can be significantly reduced, if not reversed. Even at 40, you can easily build muscle and drastically reduce your body fat percentage – it’s just more difficult.

Starting from 30, the starting situation is also defining. If you have never done sports before and are very overweight, you have a long, hard way to go. If you arrive with good starting conditions, everything is still open.

Example: most powerlifters and weight lifters culminate in their mid to late 30s, provided they don’t hurt themselves.

The whole thing shouldn’t unsettle you when you do sports. You don’t lose your gain overnight ;-). Think about it: a body fat percentage of 15% as a man (woman 20%) is good to hold. The biggest challenge here is consistency. If you integrate sport into your lifestyle, you should have no problem until old age.

How much testosterone do I need to build muscle?

A study by D. Simon (1996) shows how testosterone decreases over time. The variability of the testosterone levels in different subjects is also interesting.

The blue line shows the average testosterone by age for men. The red line shows the lower and the brown line shows the upper limit. Ie you are probably somewhere in between.

Testosterone in a 30-year-old man can range between 348 and 975 ng / dL, which is a very wide range. That can make the difference between strong and hardly building muscle (but does not have to). Therefore: have your testosterone level checked regularly!

At the same time, testosterone doesn’t have to go back as hard as many think. It is relatively individual and in some cases can remain high up to old age. At the same time, you may have low testosterone since you were young.

Probably the most important point when it comes to Testo: Testosterone is not the only factor that is important for muscle building. Growth hormones have a strong impact, as does insulin sensitivity and cortisol. Even with low testosterone, you can build muscle very well.

The amount required for this also depends on your initial situation. You can stick to the standards shown above. Artificial support for the testosterone balance is only rarely recommended and even necessary. Don’t think you’re the exception to the rule. If you are interested in your natural potential, check out this article: Natural bodybuilding without steroids.

How can I gain more muscle?

Three factors are decisive for more muscle mass:

• sleep
• strength training
• nutrition

In sleep, your body pushes growth hormones from, especially in the deep sleep phases. Therefore it is important that you sleep at least 7h every night – 8h is optimal. Sleep quality is also very important. I have already written an article on the subject: Sleep makes you sexy.

Strength training is the most important factor: without training with weights, it is difficult to build muscle over a long period of time. The first important point is basic exercises: Squats, Deadlifts, Bench Press, Barbell Rows, Pull-ups and Shoulder Press are your allies. You get the greatest hormonal response. That’s why you should structure your training around them.

The second important factor is to gradually increase the training weights (“ Progressive Overload ”). You can do this by doing more reps, more sets, or heavier weights. More repetitions and sets are more suitable for bodybuilders, more weight for powerlifters. I say “rather” because powerlifters should also do some bodybuilding and bodybuilders also build some strength. The priorities are just different.

All three macronutrients are important in nutrition because they perform unique tasks: Protein is the basic building block for muscles. 2g protein per kg body weight is a good start. It comes best from animal products: meat, fish, eggs, milk. Nothing against vegetarians or vegans. Animal products now supply the most complete amino acid inventory. But even in these cases, there are workarounds, e.g. whey protein, beans, lentils, tofu or seitan.

Carbohydrates perform an anabolic function and accelerate recovery after training. Therefore, after training, you should rather resort to simple carbohydrates that can be quickly absorbed by the body: rice, bread, pasta, etc. The right amount of carbohydrates depends on your everyday life and sport.

Rough guidelines for the right amount of carbohydrates per day by sport:

Bodybuilders : 2-3g / kg body weight

Powerlifter & weightlifter : 3-4g / kg body weight

Crossfitter : 5-8g / kg body weight

Last but not least, fat also has an important function: hormone build-up. Fat is an important component of many hormones, including testosterone and growth hormones. You shouldn’t go below 0.5gx body weight for your fat consumption in a diet.

What foods build muscle mass?

There are no foods that build muscle. There are only foods that create an anabolic environment. Protein is a basic requirement, but carbohydrates are also important.

After training, your cortisol level is relatively high and carbohydrates lower it. Cortisol has catabolic properties. So you want to be in this state as short as possible. Carbs are your friend ;-).

What is ultimately important is a calorie surplus. Without him, it is almost impossible to build muscle unless you are an absolute beginner or using “aids”.

How do I calculate my muscle mass?

You ca n’t exactly calculate your muscle mass, but for an approximate value, you need your body weight, height, and your body fat percentage. Measurements are better than any formula, but even these are often relatively inaccurate, as you read in the next section.

Body weight – (body weight x KFA) = lean mass

Lean mass is not the same as muscle mass. Lean mass also consists of bones, tendons and connective tissue. The proportion of muscles in the lean mass is relatively high, so that’s a good start.

How do I measure my muscle mass?

The best way to measure muscle mass and body fat percentage is with a DEXA scan or a hydrostatic analysis (spirit level). Unfortunately, both are difficult to get in Germany. Orthopedists sometimes have DEXA scanners because the device was originally designed to measure bone density.

The bioelectrical impedance analysis is widely used but should be taken with high caution. Unfortunately, the results depend heavily on the form of the day and are relatively imprecise. As a rough trend, it can work, but you should make sure to take the measurements at the same time, drink a lot in front of it and, as best as possible, on an empty stomach.

Caliper measurements are also very inaccurate because you have to measure exactly the same point on the body each time, with exactly the same tension, etc. It is almost impossible to reproduce this every time and therefore the method is not very suitable.

Conclusion: Everyone should build muscle

In summary, it can be said that a higher proportion of muscle mass creates a healthy environment for the body. Not to mention the visual advantages ;-). In order to build muscle, you have to eat in a caloric excess, do strength training with continuous increase, sleep well and minimize your stress.