Abbreviations: IMAT, intramuscular adipose tissue; MRI, magnetic resonance imaging; SCAT, subcutaneous adipose tissue.

We are all getting older by the day. That’s something we cannot change. But how we age is quite a different tstory. Many factors play a role, some of which are pre-set and unchangeable. But the encouraging fact is that most of them are actually under our control, and we can make a huge difference.

Many of us are guilty of an unfair stereotype – that, once we grow old, our best days are behind us. The truth is that we are bound by the limitation that we give ourselves and by the limits society places upon us.

The newest research has shown that as we grow older, we don’t have to lose muscle mass and function. “The changes that we’ve assumed were due to aging and therefore were unstoppable seem actually to be caused by inactivity. How we age can be under our control ”, says Dr. Vonda Wright, an orthopedic surgeon and founder of the Performance and Research Initiative for Masters Athletes at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center .

Recent  study Chronic exercise preserves lean muscle mass in masters athletes  published in the journal The Physician and Sportsmedicine showed that the athletes in their 70s and 80s had almost as much thigh (upper leg) muscle mass as the athletes in their 40s, with minor if any fat infiltration. The older athletes also remained strong.