People start to lose muscle mass in their late thirties or forties at a rate of roughly 1 percent per year, translating to a 1 to 3 percent loss in strength or power. Doing what we can to slow muscle loss as we age may improve quality of life.

Dr. Phillips stresses the importance of building muscle reserves early in life, so we start the decline from a higher plateau. He draws parallels with building bone mass but points out that, unlike bone mass muscle can be added later in life. In this clip, Dr. Stuart Phillips describes how muscle mass and strength decline with age and outlines the importance to maintaining quality of life.