Your Muscles Need This Exercise-Macronutrient Combo To Stay Strong With Age
There's no quick solution for building and maintaining muscle health as you age, but we know for sure that resistance training and protein are key players. One drives the improvements in muscle function and coordination, while the other stimulates the growth and repair of muscle tissue.
A new narrative review1 examined both of these factors in older adults and found they work through distinct yet complementary pathways—which is exactly why you need both to see a real change.
About the study
Researchers reviewed existing evidence on how whey protein and structured exercise, primarily resistance training, affect muscle health, physical performance, and related markers in older adults. The review also examined emerging research on the connection between muscle health and brain function.
Unlike many reviews that look at protein more broadly, this one focused specifically on whey protein.
Whey is a fast-digesting protein found in milk that is especially rich in leucine, an amino acid that helps trigger muscle protein synthesis. While other proteins can also support muscle health, whey generally stimulates muscle protein synthesis more effectively than lower-leucine proteins like collagen, and more rapidly than slower-digesting proteins like casein.
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Resistance training builds the foundation & whey protein supports it
Resistance training is the most effective, drug-free strategy to keep muscles strong as you age. No supplement can replicate what it does. It creates the stimulus your muscles need to grow and adapt.
Whey protein plays a supporting role in muscle growth. It supplies the amino acids your muscles need to actually achieve that tissue growth and repair.
When combined with resistance training, whey protein produces better strength outcomes and more favorable changes in key health markers.
As you get older, your muscles become less responsive to the signals that trigger muscle building, including the signal from protein. Without the exercise stimulus first, the muscle-building effect of protein gets significantly muted. This is especially true for older adults who are under-nourished, at higher risk of muscle loss, or dealing with conditions like sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss) or metabolic dysfunction.
For healthy older adults who are already eating enough protein, the additional benefit from supplementation is limited.
Putting resistance training and protein to work together
This review shows us that, if you really want to focus on building muscle, you shouldn't be choosing between drinking a protein shake and hitting the gym. Each one has a unique job to do, and they work best together. Here's how to put the findings into practice:
- Prioritize resistance training: This is the foundation of muscle health, so aim for 2 to 3 sessions per week. Recent research shows that even a month of consistent strength training is enough to produce meaningful changes in your body. Exercises with resistance bands, dumbbells, and bodyweight all count.
- Use whey protein strategically: Whey protein is most beneficial for those not meeting daily protein needs in their diet and people at higher risk of muscle loss. If you're not sure how much protein you need as you age, figuring that out is a great place to start.
- Think of them as a team: Resistance training creates the demand and whey protein helps meet it. Together, they support stronger muscles, better physical function, and potentially broader benefits for healthy aging, like brain health.
The takeaway
Understanding the muscle protein synthesis process is what makes the difference between using supplements strategically versus blindly.
The research is clear that exercise is the non-negotiable for building muscle, but protein is what makes the process work. For those not hitting their daily protein targets, or who are at higher risk of muscle loss, adding whey is a smart, evidence-backed complement to exercise.
