Strong muscles help maintain strong bones and make it easier to do everything from climbing stairs to carrying groceries. A simple test of upper body strength is how easily you can carry heavy things.Test your leg strength by seeing how fast you can walk 2km - you should be able to manage it in 20 minutes.
Muscle Strength in your 20s
We are all born with a finite number of muscle cells which shrink as we age. Exercise won’t generate new cells, but it does enlarge the existing ones. Muscle is a dynamic tissue - at any one time around 25 per cent of muscle protein is being broken down and built up. Exercise stimulates muscle buildup and increases your strength.
Muscle Strength in your 30s
Keep any decline in muscle strength at bay with regular exercise. You won’t really feel the effects if you don’t exercise, but the greater the decline now, the harder it will be to regain that strength 10 or 20 years down the line.
Muscle Strength in your 40s
Use it or lose it - it’s up to you. By their 40s women have, on average, one-third less muscle strength than in their 20s. You have only to look at a leg that has been in a plaster cast to see how rapidly muscle declines. Unused muscles become shorter, which means that joints can’t move through their full range of motion and may become stiff.
Muscle Strength in your 50s and beyond
Without exercise, muscle strength plummets with age.The average 50- to 60-year-old woman is up to 70 per cent weaker than she was in her 20s. Researchers at University College, London, have found that the effects of menopause, too, can cause muscle strength to decline by up to 40 per cent - so take steps to check the loss.
What you can do now
Regular weight-bearing exercise is a must - brisk walking, jogging or cycling will maintain muscle strength and keep bones strong, too. After menopause, HRT can help - University College, London, researchers have found that HRT seems to protect women against the usual post-menopausal decline in muscle strength.