[silverquiet]

I started lifting weights at 37 after 10 years of being very sedentary, and within a few months people were mentioning that I had put on muscle. My impression was that sarcopenia doesn't start until the 60's and even then there are benefits to resistance training.

[kiba]

Reduced physical activity in old age will accelerate sarcopenia. If you're hospitalized, especially for long period of time, that will also accelerate muscle loss.

[throwaway7ahgb]

Those are called beginner gains, especially if you've never worked out before.

The beginner gains are great, but the plateau hits most of us.

[silverquiet]

In my case it was regaining strength from taking weight-lifting semi-seriously in my 20's. It was actually amazing at how fast muscle can come back even after a decade. But I continued lifting and am stronger now at 38 than I ever have been in my life. What I am saying is that mid-30's is hardly when sarcopenia sets in. I'm sure it's individualized, but I don't seem to have a harder time gaining muscle now than I did back then; for me it's always been joint/tendon issues that have been limiting anyway.