My muscles were seriously deteriorated by age mid-50.
Long work hours at job, too tired after work to exercise.
I had irregular heart beats, chest pain after a good restaurant meal, 140/90 BP, was diagnosed border line diabetic from higher H1C, panic attacks in closed malls, hip joint pain, and fainting spells at work in morning.
Quit my well paying secure government job, and joined a cheap golf club where I could play unlimited rounds for fixed monthly dues. In just 2 short years, I was playing 5 rounds of 18 every week, pushing my golf club card on a hilly gold course (Orchard hills country club). Miraculously every one of my health issues disappeared, without taking any medications or supplements, except was on 20mg Lisinopril for 2 years to get blood pressure down. Now at age 82, I am healthy as a horse, with daily exercise of 30 minutes. I have new muscles in upper body I never had before.
My serious conclusion is people get weak and feeble with age because instead of pushing exercise, they prefer to take it easy.
Completely agree- purposeful lethargy leads to muscle atrophy.
I trained for the Olympics for a decade and work out hard every day since (at least two hours if not more). Its addictive and as much for mental health at this point.
I am approaching 59YO and have only dealt with joint issues- solely due to all the working out. The weights i lift now may not be as heavy as the weights i lifted 10 years ago- but there’s not a huge difference.