It happens while doing everyday tasks, as you sit at your desk at work or while relaxing on your couch. It's also happening while you drive your car, as you stand in line, or while sleeping. You have been losing lean muscle tissue every day since sometime in your twenties. You are losing strength so slowly that you probably haven't noticed. But eventually you will.

As you get older many of the activities you could easily do may become impossible. You may not be able to run, climb a flight of stairs without gasping for breath or dig the garden. It will become more and more difficult to carry out the normal function and tasks of daily living. Chores that used to be so easy such as carrying the groceries suddenly become harder. Eventually, just getting out of a chair could be a struggle.

The typical sedentary adult loses 3 kilos every decade of lean muscle tissue between ages 20 and 70. We used to believe this muscle loss occured because of the natural process of aging, but research has proven it occurs because we stop doing active things that require strength and the power of our muscles, not because we age.

The gradual loss of muscle can start a vicious cycle as it continues to weaken the entire body. It weakens the cardiovascular (heart/lung) system, the muscular system, the skeleton, immune system, nerve cells, hormones and other chemicals. What many adults overlook or are just not aware of is the importance of doing activities that challenge their muscles to get stronger.

There's only one way to stop your muscles from wasting away: strength training exercise. It doesn't matter if you're a 30-year-old runner or a 65-year-old grandmother. If you don't actively work at protecting and preserving your lean muscle mass, you will lose it.

Strength Training is exercise that uses resistance - to strengthen and condition the muscular system. This can be achieved with resistance machines or free weights found at a gym or fitness centre. Strength training is not running on a treadmill, using an elliptical machine, or riding a stationary bike. Although those types of aerobic machines use "resistance" to increase the workout intensity, they are machines to increase heart/lung fitness which is not the same as strength training exercise.

The good news is that you can easily regain muscle strength, and it is never too late to start a strength training program. Just a few months of this powerful age erasr can reverse years or decades of muscle loss. Small changes can make a big difference, just an increase in muscle that you cannot even see can be all it takes to improve functions of daily living. The greatest return is having the vitality, energy and independence to pursue every moment of your life to the fullest.