What You Need To Know To Be Successful.

The human body never loses it's ability to adapt to stresses that we put on it. These adaptations can be good or bad or both in various amounts. The body is in a constant state of breaking down, building and repairing new tissue as a result of the daily stresses of life.

Basically there are two opposing hormone groups. Catabolic (breaking down) and Anabolic (building).

The main catabolic hormones are Adrenaline and Cortisol. These are released when ever we encounter stressful events or sressful periods during our daily life.
Anabolic hormones include Human Growth Hormone, Testostrone and Estrogen. These help us build and repair tissue.

Building muscle is an adaptation to a stress that we put on the body by way of performing resistance exercises. As we age the ability to gain muscle and strength does decline but we never lose it.

To be successful we have to create an enviroment that is more anabolic than catabolic.
In men and women, Human Growth Hormone and Testosterone levels decrease over time.

We can raise these by performing strength training which in turn can help us increase lean mass. Nevertheless, there is a balancing act between optimum training and overtraining. This is the case at any age but the older we are, the finer the margins for error.

There are several factors that we have to optimise as we age to be successful in building muscle and strength. All of these would be unique to each individual.
*The right amount of training.
*The optimum nutrition.
*Rest and recovery.

The right amount of training.

The right amount of training should be just enough to ilicit a stress, recovery and adaptation in your body. More is not better and too much will result in a negative benefit.
For the most part, to continue to get stronger and bigger muscles, the "right amount" will involve "progressive overload". Progressive overload is the increase in one or more of the variables, intensity, frequency and volume.

The Optimum Nutrition.

The optimal nutrition is going to fuel workouts, help build muscle, aid recovery, improve healthy hormone levels. Protein is an essential nutrient that we have to eat to help facilitate the growth and repair of cells. This includes muscle. If we don't eat enough protein the breakdown of tissue will outway the building of new tissue. This is not the environment for muscle growth.
The generally excepted protein intake target for muscle growth is .6gms to 1.2kgms of protein per lb of bodyweight. Fat is another essential nutrient that we have to eat. It helps in the production of important hormones and the obsorbtion of nutrients. Fat also protects our organs and keeps us warm.
20% to 35% our our daily calorie intake should be from healthy fats.

Rest and Recovery.

Rest and recovery and most importantly, sleep, from training and generally from daily life stresses, are so important and underestermated in these modern times.
Sleep is probably the #1 factor to focus on. Especially when it comes to building muscle and strength. Inadequate recovery will prevent the body adapting in the desired manner. Recovery from training will happen but adaptation may not.

So in summery, yes you can build muscle at any age. At the very least you can maintain your muscle mass by doing regular resistance exercise workouts. If you want to live a long active life, staying strong is probably the single most important thing you can do.