Can very old people still build muscle with exercise?
Muscle Mass and Strength Gains Following Resistance Exercise Training in Older Adults 65-75 Years and Older Adults Above 85 Years.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
This study looked at whether older adults, even those over 85, can gain muscle and strength from weight training like younger seniors can.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 539 / 72
Evidence Score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
This study looked at whether older adults, even those over 85, can gain muscle and strength from weight training like younger seniors can.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 539 / 72
Evidence Score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Publication
Authors
Marzuca-Nassr GN, Alegría-Molina A, SanMartín-Calísto Y, Artigas-Arias M, Huard N, Sapunar J, Salazar LA, Verdijk LB, van Loon LJC
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Claims (4)
Everyone can build muscle with consistent strength training over time — if you didn’t gain muscle once, it’s probably not your genes, just that specific training phase didn’t work for you.
Doing full-body strength training three times a week for three months can boost thigh muscle size by about 10–11% in older adults, even for those over 85 — showing that very old age doesn’t stop muscles from growing with exercise.
Older adults, even those over 85, can gain just as much leg strength as younger seniors from 12 weeks of regular weight training — and some even gain a bit more!
Doing full-body strength training three times a week for three months helps older adults, even those over 85, gain about 2% more muscle — and it works just as well for the very elderly as it does for the 'younger' elderly.