People still underestimate the importance of muscle and how valuable it becomes as we age. Most perspectives on muscle tend to miss this point and focus on the obvious ones.
Yes, muscle looks good—muscle enhances our aesthetics, especially with a heathy body fat percentage. And yes, muscle provides strength, enabling us to exert our will on the world, move heavy objects, and maneuver our own bodies, and when necessary, other people’s bodies. However, muscle also serves as a storage site for nutrients. The more muscle we have, the more glucose we can manage and store in healthy ways. With more muscle, we can handle glucose without relying as much on insulin. In fact, lifting weights and using your developed muscles increases insulin-independent glucose storage, allowing glucose to be stored as muscle glycogen without spiking insulin levels. This helps burn body fat since elevated insulin levels inhibit the release of body fat. But the single most important role of muscle is as a store of vital capacity.
For many years, I've emphasized the role that muscle plays in organ reserve. When people, especially older individuals, undergo surgery, bed rest, or intensive care, having more muscle increases their likelihood of surviving with full functional capacity. Muscle acts as insurance during lean times, hardships, illnesses, and infirmities. The strength of a person's grip, as demonstrated by their handshake, can predict their lifespan and chances of surviving severe diseases because grip strength is an excellent indicator of overall lean mass and vitality.
That last point is crucial: muscle is a reservoir of vitality. As we age, the difference in vitality between those who have it and those who don't becomes increasingly stark. Vitality is the spark of life, that preternatural energy that children possess. It is the spirit animating the Founding Fathers during the American Revolution, and the creative energy that drives artists, musicians, and inventors. The greatest athletes of all time possess that spark—an incredible reservoir of vitality. Consider Michael Jordan, who played Game 5 of the NBA Finals with the flu, managing to score 38 points thanks to his vitality. That's more than physicality. It's something deeper, more vital. And muscle is strongly correlated with that spark.
When I refer to muscle, I don't necessarily mean the massive, bodybuilder-type physique. I also mean lean, dense, wiry muscles, or even naturally larger muscle mass. Muscle is relative, and we all have different amounts based on our genetics. Some people may not appear huge, but they are still muscular.
In conclusion, get muscle. Start now. It's never too late, but one day it will be too late. Whenever that day is, it's getting closer. Don't wait! Let me know how you get muscle or how you plan to start getting muscle in this week's New and Noteworthy.
