(Photo of Houston Personal Trainer Melissa showing that she works hard to maintain muscle tone.)
Sarcopenia is a self-perpetuating downward spiral triggered by inactivity. It begins with the loss of muscle mass with aging (between ages 30 and 70 people tend to lose nearly 30 percent of their muscle  if they do not strength train) and the muscle gradually is gives way to body fat. Over time as a person gets weaker,and the body is  challenged less, it leads to further diminishment of muscle.(as described in the book Biomarkers: The 10 Keys to prolonging Vitality) Increased Muscle speeds up metabolism - which means the body can withstand the tendency to gain weight with age. Muscle consumes almost 25 percent of total caloric consumption, or 39 to 50 calories per pound of muscle. Once the body loses muscle however, the metabolic rate drops because the body does not use as many calories. And if a person continues to eat the same amount of food, they will begin to accumulate unwanted fat. Another good thing about muscle says Houston Personal Trainer Melissa is that muscle can also help lower the risk of diabetes because it reacts to insulin by absorbing glucose from the bloodstream. When a person loses muscle mass, the remaining muscle does not take up the glucose as effectively, and the pancreas cannot handle the stress of producing more and more insulin to compensate so it shuts down altogether, leading to adult onset diabetes.
Other known benefits of strength training are improved cholesterol, better endurance and flexibility, improved balance, power and reaction time.