The Atrium Club

lots of good reasons to build more muscle 😊

We are often told that building muscle mass will burn SO many more calories - so building our body will result in a total ramp up of energy expenditure and it’s awesome.

Well, while muscle mass DOES burn more Cals than fat tissue, the amount is a lot lower than what we think, it’s like 12-15 calories per pound of muscle (or around 30 Cal per kg of muscle).

It is not changing your metabolic game by that much. Particularly as it takes months and years to build muscle.

BUT…

👏🏼 You’re protecting your metabolic health: 🩸 muscle is a reservoir for glucose - without it, that glucose (and those fatty acids) are lurking in your bloodstream with nowhere to go, increasing blood sugar, triglycerides, risk of fatty liver disease, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Muscle truly is the organ of longevity.

🙌🏼 You’re protecting your brain 🧠 - there is a clear link between cognitive function and muscle mass, which is kind of funny as when I was growing up, if you were good in the gym you weren’t expected to do well in the classroom if you listened to some old-school thinkers like we had at my high school

🤗 You’re protecting your bones 🦴 : resistance training as we age, especially for women post menopause, significantly increases bone density which protects from falls. Falls are one of the biggest contributors to losing your independence and early mortality. Seriously, if this isn’t a motivating factor to get strength training I don’t know what is.

All the meanwhile, you are building a stronger, more defined physique 💪🏼 🦵 and it’s okay to want this too. We are allowed to want to feel good in our skin. Just know you’re doing all of these other awesome things alongside it.

PS Just some geeky links
🧠 DOI:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.19926
🦴 doi: 10.22540/JRPMS-07-060

Calories:
https://www.strongerbyscience.com/calories-muscle-burn/

https://www.facebook.com/share/jDq4wqJwEdLpqkZs/?mibextid=WC7FNe
Resistance training may help reverse muscle decline due to aging!

Resistance training partially reverses some of the hallmarks of aging type II muscle fibers Age-related muscle declines are not as inevitable as you might think.