Maintaining muscle mass may play a key role in preventing dementia, as aging often leads to pronounced changes such as decreased mobility and loss of strength. Age-related muscle loss is an inevitable event that affects the physical as well as the mental state of humans. New research suggests maintaining skeletal muscle can be key to supporting cognitive functions and may even play a role in preventing dementia.

A study presented at the Radiological Society of North America's annual meeting revealed that elderly patients with lower skeletal muscle mass had about a 60 percent higher risk of dementia. Skeletal muscle forms one-third of our body weight and tends to atrophy with age, and that muscle decline has broad-ranging effects, from increased physical frailty to potential cognitive decline, said Dr. Marilyn Albert, a professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins University.

The researchers measured the size of the temporalis muscle, which is part of the jaw region, as a marker of overall skeletal muscle health. Their findings showed a clear link between reduced muscle mass and an elevated risk of dementia. This connection highlights the urgent need to prioritize muscle maintenance, particularly as age-related conditions like sarcopenia and anabolic resistance pose additional challenges.

Why Muscle Maintenance Becomes Harder With Age

This begins around the age of 30. Then, there is a loss of 3-5% muscle mass every decade. But the decline is faster for those aged 50. Contributing factors include sarcopenia, an umbrella syndrome causing progressive loss of muscle and bone mass. And there is anabolic resistance - reduced skeletal muscle synthesis of protein, making it difficult to build and maintain muscle in the presence of exercise.

Despite these challenges, strength training and endurance exercises remain effective strategies to rebuild muscle and enhance overall health.

5 At-Home Strength Exercises to Build and Maintain Muscle

Fortunately, you don't need to join a gym to maintain muscle strength. Here are five simple yet effective exercises into your routine to help preserve muscle mass and support cognitive health.

1. Calf Raises

• Stand with feet shoulder-width apart. Lift onto your toes, keeping your core tight. Hold for 1-2 seconds, then lower back down. Repetitions: Perform 15 reps for 2-3 sets.
• Benefits: Improves lower leg strength and balance.

2. Plank

• Lay face-down and position forearms on the ground. Stretch legs back and curl toes under.
• Press your body against the ground, with it straight and core tight.
• Repetitions: 15-20 seconds holds for 2-3 sets.
• Benefits: Strengthens the core, shoulders, and back muscles.

3. Squat Into Chair

• Stand a half step away from a chair.
• Lower into a squat until you nearly touch the chair, extending arms forward.
• Return to standing, bringing arms back in.
• Repetitions: Repeat for 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps.
• Benefits: Strengthens the muscles in the legs as well as helps to better your posture.

4. Elevated Pushups

• Position hands on a wall with feet shoulder-width apart.
• Perform a push-up and lower toward the wall, then return to beginning.
• Repetitions: Do 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps.
• Benefits: Stretches chest, arms, and shoulders with minimal strain.

5. Wall Angels

• Stand with your back against a wall, pressing hips, shoulders, and elbows into the wall.
• Push your arms up into a "Y" shape and then back down.
• Repetitions: Do 10-15 reps for 2-3 sets.
• Benefits: Helps to improve shoulder mobility and posture.

Additional Tips for Muscle Maintenance

Safety and effectiveness are guaranteed by following the given tips:

1. Always warmup at the start and cool down at the end to avoid being injured.

2. Maintain proper posture and control during every movement.

3. Progressively increase weights or resistance bands as strength is enhanced.

4. Complete each movement slowly in order to achieve control and to avoid straining.

5. Give your muscles time to recover and rebuild between sessions.

Hollywood star Sylvester Stallone recently revealed that building the body to play Rocky Balboa in his Oscar-winning film Rocky came at a health cost.

The 80-year-old actor has revealed that his obsession with achieving an extremely lean, muscular physique while making the Rocky films became so intense that he developed bulimia and used anabolic steroids. Speaking to The New York Times, Stallone said he reached 2.6% body fat while filming Rocky III and described his relationship with his body at the time as an “obsession.”

He also said he used steroids in cycles of roughly six weeks on and six weeks off, while revealing that the approach eventually took a “terrible toll” on his body.

Stallone's admission admission offers a glimpse into the health risks that can come with the obsession of chasing an extremely muscular physique with very low body fat.

Stallone said, “It was my armor. I looked at Rocky: very smooth, very normal-looking guy. And then I said, I think the character would start to become a bit more vain. And then in ‘Rambo,’ you’re playing a warrior, so you’d be a little bit more animalistic. You wouldn’t be so smooth,” he said. “So I started to think: Design your body like a jaguar, a cat. Not big like Arnold, but more feral and aggressive and very limber and athletic.”

He added, “It got to the point where I became bulimic,” he said. “I got down to 2.6 percent body fat when I was doing ‘Rocky III,’ and I couldn’t hold anything down. Or I didn’t want to keep it down because I became so obsessed with staying at that point of fitness, literally an obsessive body-worship kind of thing.”

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What Is Bulimia?

Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder involving recurrent episodes of binge eating is followed by erratic actions intended to compensate for the food consumed. For example, after binge-eating, one may purge, meaning self-induced vomiting, fasting, excessive exercise or misuse of laxatives. The goal is not simply wanting to lose weight.

Repeated purging can lead to dehydration and dangerous imbalance of essential electrolytes, particularly involving potassium. These changes can interfere with the heart's electrical activity and, in severe cases, lead to life-threatening abnormal heart rhythms.

Bulimia can also lead to acid reflux, gastrointestinal problems, chronic throat irritation, swollen salivary glands and erosion of tooth enamel.

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Extremely Low Body Fat Is Risky

Stallone's said that he had reached a body-fat level of 2.6% which is an extraordinarily low number. However, a body-fat percentage alone cannot diagnose an eating disorder. It is ascertained by how someone got to that number and what happens to the body in the process.

Severe restriction on eating habits and excessive exercise can leave the body deprived of adequate energy, electrolytes, and nutrients.

Eating disorders can affect the heart, bones, muscles, reproductive system and other organs, and they can occur in people belonging to different weight groups.

In Stallone's case, he said he was unable or unwilling to keep food down while remaining intensely focused on maintaining his physique.

Risks Of Anabolic Steroids

Anabolic-androgenic steroids are synthetic substances related to testosterone. They can increase muscle mass and strength, but using them without medical supervision can have adverse effects on different organs.

Misuse of these steroids can lead to high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol levels, heart problems, liver disease and kidney damage. It can also affect fertility and reproductive hormones. Changes in mood, irritability and aggressive behaviour have also been seen.

The cardiovascular effects are particularly alarming as long-term anabolic steroid misuse can lead to to changes in heart structure and function as well as increased cardiovascular risk.

Stallone has previously spoken about the physical consequences of his decades-long approach to fitness, saying he has undergone nine back operations, two shoulder operations and three neck fusions.

He has also said that playing a heavier, physically less imposing character in Cop Land helped him feel liberated from the pressure to maintain his action-star physique.

Ageing changes the body in ways people expect, like weaker hearing or eyesight. Fewer people realize it also quietly eats away at muscle.

Research published in the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle shows that age-related muscle loss begins well before old age and can eventually affect strength, mobility and independence. This process is known as sarcopenia, and research has documented it as one of the important threats to physical function as people age.

Why It Matters More With Age

Charlie Grundas, a certified personal trainer in Chicago, told TIME he asks clients if they ever want to reach a point where they can't get off the toilet. Beyond frailty, strength training also protects bone density, which lowers the risk of fractures from falls. Will Hewitt, a trainer in Massachusetts, told TIME that added muscle can even cushion the body if a fall does happen.

It isn't only trainers making this case. In 1988, researchers at Tufts University's nutrition centre on aging, led by Walter Frontera, found that sedentary men in their sixties significantly increased leg strength and muscle mass after just 12 weeks of training, according to a report by WRAL. Two years later, a study by Dr. Maria Fiatarone at the same center, published in JAMA, found strength gains averaging 174 percent in nursing home residents in their nineties.

Sharon Salomon, who took up weightlifting in her sixties and is now, at 77, the oldest competitive female powerlifter in her state, put it simply in an interview with Next Avenue, "I want to stay healthy and be as strong as I can."

According to the American College of Sports Medicine, even one to three sets of six to fifteen reps, done twice a week, is enough to make a difference. Doctors recommend checking with a physician first, especially for anyone returning to exercise after an injury.

There are five exercises that can help build and maintain the strength needed for everyday movements as you age:

The Goblet Squat

This move mimics the motion of standing up from a chair, something worth protecting for life. It works the thighs, glutes, and core, and holding a weight at chest height, per the National Academy of Sports Medicine, helps keep the torso upright through the movement. Those who find squatting difficult can substitute a step-down instead.

The Sitting-Rising Test

Grundas ends his yoga classes by having students stand up off the floor without using their hands. It's a real fitness marker, too. A 2026 study in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology found that people who could do this without support had a four times lower risk of death over the study period than those who needed help.

The Seated Overhead Press

This keeps the shoulders strong enough for ordinary tasks, like lifting a suitcase into an overhead bin. Sitting on a bench, a dumbbell is pressed overhead from each shoulder, then lowered with control.

The Kickstand Romanian Deadlift

Grundas recommends this version of the deadlift to preserve the ability to pick things up off the floor safely. Standing on one leg with the other foot lightly touching down behind, the hips hinge back while lowering a weight, then return upright.

The Bear Crawl Hold

Core strength does more than protect the back, Hewitt told TIME. It also supports the pelvic floor, which affects bladder control as people age. Holding a hands-and-knees position with the knees hovering off the ground for ten to sixty seconds builds this strength.

Starting small and staying consistent matters more than intensity. Decades of research, point to the same conclusion. It's never too late to begin.

Most people walk into a gym assuming more effort always means more progress. It doesn't. Push past a certain point, and your body stops adapting and starts breaking down instead. Here's how to tell the difference.

Your Urine Turns Dark

If your urine looks like tea or cola after a hard session, that's not dehydration, and it's not something to shrug off. It's often the first visible sign of rhabdomyolysis, a condition where damaged muscle fibres leak their contents into your bloodstream. Doctors have seen this happen even in people doing fairly ordinary workouts.

In one case documented in Case Reports in Emergency Medicine, a healthy 23-year-old woman ended up in hospital after nothing more than a high-rep upper-body session, no underlying condition, no history of it happening before. A wider 2024 review in Apunts Sports Medicine found the same warning sign showing up again and again across dozens of similar cases. Left alone, it can damage your kidneys.

You're Always Catching Something

If you feel like you're sick every few weeks, the gym might be the reason. Long, intense workouts can leave your immune system weaker for a stretch afterward, not stronger. Research in Immunology and Cell Biology traced this to lower activity in several of the body's key infection-fighting cells. And this isn't rare.

According to sports physiologist Roy Stevenson's website, roy-stevenson.com, roughly two out of three elite runners say they've gone through it at some point, and the numbers look similar for swimmers, cyclists and bodybuilders.

You Can't Sleep, Even Though You're Exhausted

This one trips people up because it feels backwards. You'd expect exhaustion to mean better sleep, not worse. But a case documented in Sports Psychiatry showed the opposite.

An athlete's sleep fell apart as training piled up, and it only recovered once the training load came down. It's a pattern researchers see often enough that poor sleep, alongside anxiety and low mood, is now considered one of the clearer signals that someone is overtraining.

Your Numbers Keep Dropping

Lifting less, running slower, gassing out earlier, even though you're showing up consistently, does not mean things have reached a standstill. It means they're going backwards. Athletes often assume the fix is to push harder. 'That may end up making the problem even worse,' says Dr. Caitlin Lewis, a sports medicine physician, according to Cleveland Clinic's health website.

Once performance keeps sliding despite steady effort, that's usually the body flagging that it hasn't recovered from the last session.

You're Irritable or Low, and You Don't Know Why

Nobody thinks to blame the gym for a short temper. But hard training raises cortisol and disrupts the hormones that keep your mood steady.

Physician Gabe Mirkin has pointed to research out of Austria that found restlessness and irritability often show up before performance even starts to drop, which makes them one of the earliest clues, if you know to look for them.

Old Injuries Won't Stay Gone

One injury can happen to anyone. But when the same one keeps coming back, or new ones keep appearing, it usually means your body isn't getting the recovery time it needs between sessions.

A 2024 review in the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research pointed to exactly this. Overuse and poor recovery, not bad form or bad luck, as the biggest drivers of gym injuries.

None of this means training hard is the problem. It means recovery isn't optional. Skip it long enough, and the gym stops building you up and starts wearing you down.