Older age often comes with weight gain. Dieting can cause fat loss, but also muscle loss. But there’s a way to lose fat while keeping muscle.
As people get older, maintaining muscle becomes just as important as losing excess body fat.
A study suggests that one particular type of exercise may be especially effective at accomplishing both goals.
Researchers at the University of the Sunshine Coast found that high intensity interval training, commonly known as HIIT, helped older adults reduce body fat while preserving valuable lean muscle mass.
HIIT can be done by older adults. It’s a versatile way to move the body and highly effective for all ages and sizes.
Not All Exercise Produced the Same Results
The study compared low, moderate, and high intensity exercise in healthy older adults.
All three approaches resulted in some degree of fat loss. This is to be expected.
However, only the participants who performed HIIT maintained their lean muscle throughout the program.
According to lead researcher Dr. Grace Rose, this distinction is important because preserving muscle becomes increasingly difficult with age.
While moderate intensity exercise helped reduce fat, participants also experienced a small decrease in lean muscle mass.
Researchers found that both moderate intensity exercise and HIIT improved body composition around the abdominal area, which is associated with increased health risks when there’s excess fat.
The Impact of Body Composition on Healthy Aging
Body composition refers to the proportion of fat, muscle, and other tissues that make up the body.
To put it succinctly, it’s how one’s body “looks.”
Body composition is a very important measure of health, especially in older adults.
Excess body fat and declining muscle mass have both been linked to a greater risk of chronic diseases, reduced mobility, and loss of independence later in life.
Excess fat, alongside low muscle mass (“flabby” or “untoned” muscle) has a distinct body appearance.
A big tell-tale sign of this kind of composition is that the waist is wider than the shoulders.
On the other hand, a medically acceptable level of body fat, alongside trained muscle, results in what’s called a V-taper build.
In this case, the waist is smaller in width than the shoulders. The body is like a V.
This doesn’t mean it’s heavily muscled like a bodybuilder, even though bodybuilders are the most extreme cases of the V-taper.
What’s noteworthy is that even a slim person could have a waist that’s wider than their shoulders!
Inside the Study
The research involved more than 120 healthy older adults living in the Greater Brisbane region.
Participants attended supervised gym sessions three times per week for six months.
The average participant was 72.
Researchers reported that the group had an average body mass index of 26, a range generally considered normal for adults over 65.
The study was published in the journal Maturitas and involved collaboration between researchers from the University of the Sunshine Coast and The University of Queensland.
What Makes HIIT Different?
HIIT workouts alternate short periods of very challenging exercise with brief recovery intervals. Think of it as “peak and valley” movement.
During the harder segments, participants exercise at an intensity high enough to make breathing heavy and conversation difficult.
The recovery periods allow the body to partially recover before the next burst of effort begins.
Muscle Is Precious
One of the biggest issues of aging is the gradual loss of muscle tissue.
As muscle mass declines, everyday activities can become more difficult.
Reduced muscle strength is also associated with a higher risk of falls, injuries, and physical disability. Can’t be said enough.
HIIT will help counter this process because it places greater demands on the muscles.
Those demands signal the body to maintain muscle tissue even while body fat is being reduced.
If you’re older and want to lose weight, then the desire to preserve and even add some muscle should also be part of your approach. This is where HIIT comes in.
While all forms of exercise examined in the study offered benefits, HIIT appeared to provide a unique advantage by helping participants lose fat without sacrificing lean muscle.
If there’s one thing you don’t want to lose as you get older, it’s muscle.
Not Just Scale Weight, but Lifting Weight
Although additional research is still needed, the results indicate that HIIT may be one of the more effective options for older people seeking to improve body composition.
