Muscle & Strength
Build muscle and keep it as you age. The training that carries the load, the protein that supports it, and honest numbers on what each is worth.
Muscle answers to a small number of variables and the research on them is more settled than the internet suggests. This hub covers how much training it takes, how often, how much protein supports it, and how to measure what you are made of.
It also covers the part men over forty care about most. Muscle loss with age is real, it starts earlier than most people expect, and it responds to the same training that builds muscle at any age.
All guides in this hub
The US Navy body fat formula: how accurate it is, and what the Navy uses now
Online calculators still run the old neck-and-waist equation. How well it performed against laboratory methods, and what the Navy measures instead now.
How to build muscle: the training variables that matter
Sets per week, how often you train a muscle, how long you rest and how much protein you eat. What the trials show, and what to ignore.
Muscle loss with age: how fast it happens and how to stop it
Muscle starts declining in your 30s and the loss speeds up after 65. What the numbers really are, and the training and protein that reverse it at any age.
Where to start
- How to build muscle Sets per week, frequency, rest and protein, with the dose-response behind each one.
- Muscle loss with age How fast it happens, and what reverses it after sixty.
- How much protein you need Training is the signal and protein is the material. One without the other underdelivers.
What this hub answers
- How many sets per week build muscle?
- Growth tracks weekly volume, with each additional set per muscle worth about 0.37% more growth in pooled trials. Around ten hard sets per muscle per week is a defensible target for most men.
- How often should I train a muscle?
- When weekly volume is matched, a 2019 meta-analysis found no meaningful hypertrophy advantage from higher frequency. Split the work across sessions when it improves set quality, recovery or adherence.
- Is it too late to build muscle after sixty?
- No. Reviews of resistance training in older adults find the ability to respond is comparable to younger people, though the adaptations take longer to appear.