Everything is going well,

I have a decent amount of muscle mass,
I am a regular exerciser,
I run 5k every alternate day,
I have slight knee pain. Otherwise, I am fit,
I just want to “tone up, don’t want to bulk up”.

I have heard these kinds of one-liners from most of my clients during their first visit. The moment I start my routine knee examination, I will have to search for their quadriceps using magnifying glasses. It is surprising when a 40 years old guy has the muscle mass of a 14-year-old boy and mentions that he doesn’t want to get bulky, instead he wants just to tone up. What they don’t understand is, It is essential to have adequate muscle first before thinking about aesthetic goals.

Muscle Mass Matters

Ageing will eventually eat your muscle mass as a natural process, chronic pain will cause avoidance of certain movement after a traumatic incident will cause specific muscle group wasting. On top of that lack of progressive strength training is a major cause of muscle loss.

Arthritis in a joint will not happen over the night; It is an overuse problem. Doing same activity or patterns of movement over the period without adequate muscle mass and strength, which will create longstanding excessive joint reaction force, ligament laxity and long-standing joint shear and compression strain will eventually lead to joint wear and tear.

Find below an example of adequate muscle and lack of muscle

Lack of muscle and strength will bring a joint pain initially and will lead to degeneration at the end. Like a long-term financial investment for your wealth, you should be doing weight training as a long-term investment for your musculoskeletal health.

Training for gaining muscle in your early and middle age will be certainly helpful in preventing arthritis in your later stage.

Contact our experts to get the help you need!