Staying Strong as the Years and Decades Go By

by Nils Osmar. August 19, 2022. Medical Disclaimer

I initially titled this post “staying strong as we age” but changed it because for many people in the pro-longevity community, the goal is living longer without aging; i.e., slowing, preventing and reversing aging.

There are some hopeful signs that we may succeed at reversing aging within the next few years. Supplements such as AKG (in both its CaAKG and AAKG forms) and sirtuin 6 activators such as fucoidan and black elderberry, and medications such as GlyNAC (made up of equal amounts of the amino acids glycine and NAC) have shown promising results in both human and animal studies. (See links at bottom of page)

Other promising supplements

Many people are also excited about a product on the horizon called E5 which Katcher’s lab has been developing, which shows promise of addressing the root causes of aging in a further upstream way.

No need to wait

It’s also possible that future progress will occur more slowly.

Regardless of how long it takes for deeper anti-aging interventions to arrive, there are things we can do to improve our odds of building, rather than losing, strength as the years go by, and of still being around and salvageable when they do become available.

I was losing muscle

I started working out two years ago because I realized that I was (1) getting fat; I hard gained 30 pounds, essentially by “eating my feelings” during the early months of Covid, and (2) drifting into sarcopenia.

I had never worked out in my life, and it showed. I was gaining a blob of fat around my midsection. My muscles were getting weak and flabby.

I then made some changes in my diet, exercise regimen and nutrition. You may have seen these before and after photos elsewhere on my website. One is from two years ago; the lowest one was taken today.

I’m not claiming, of course, to have the greatest physique in the world. I’m sure there are many other men my age who are stronger and have more powerful muscles. I’m posting the pictures to illustrate that it is possible to both improve health and build strength and musculature by doing the sorts of things I talk about below.

My changes:

1. I started eating a higher nutrient diet with more high quality protein and other nutrients. (This is particularly important in my case because I do a lot of fasting.) See article: The benefits of eating more protein as you age
2. I started working out. I began working out three days a week. More recently, feeling that this was too little, I’ve switched to doing upper body workouts three days a week and lower body/core/glutes workouts three days. See article: 4 Ways Exercise Fights Aging
3. I started taking supplements such as D Asartic Acid, Tongkat Ali, Ashwagandha, DHEA and others associated with (possibly) raising testosterone levels and getting better results from exercising. See article: How I reversed sarcopenia at the age of 67
4. I tried optimizing both my sleep and hGH levels. Like testosterone, hGH levels decline as we age. There’s some argument about whether hGH injections have a pro-aging or anti-aging effect, but not much disagreement about the benefits of optimizing hGH in more natural ways. There’s some evidence that going to bed early (somewhere around 10 pm) puts us in better synch with our circadian rhythms, and optimizes our hGH levels. The reason is that there’s a spike in hGH that occurs somewhere around 10 or 11 pm, but only occurs if we’re asleep during those hours. See article: Human growth hormone is essential for the rejuvenating properties of sleep See article: Growth Hormones
5. My whole protocol is on this page.

Other things that could help?

Are there things that you can think of that should be added to this list?

Want to support this website?

If you like the content of this website, you can support it in two ways:

1. Donating through my Buymeacoffee account: buymeacoffee.com/nilsosmar
2. Buying anti-aging supplements and products from DoNotAge.org using the discount code PATHWAYS. (DoNotAge is my channel’s sponsor; when you use the discount code, you’ll be buying high quality supplements developed to support healthy aging and life extension, and the channel will receive a small payment, enough to keep us going)

Other resources

You’re welcome also to check out my Youtube channel (Pathways to Longevity) — and the Anti-Aging and Life Extension Facebook group.

References

1. Glycine and N-acetylcysteine (GlyNAC) supplementation in older adults improves glutathione deficiency, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation, insulin resistance, endothelial dysfunction, genotoxicity, muscle strength, and cognition
2. Alpha-Ketoglutarate, an Endogenous Metabolite, Extends Lifespan and Compresses Morbidity in Aging Mice
3. Emerging therapeutic potential of SIRT6 modulators

About the Author

Medical Disclaimer

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