Do muscles turn to fat when you get old?

[Shoke]

I was wondering if muscles that are too big turn to fat when you get older? Not that i'll have this problem anytime soon, since I'm neither too big nor old. But I saw Arnold in a tabloid magazine once at the supermarket and he had these huge b*tch tits that just looked gross.

[Shahzad]

Muscles don't turn to fat, that's a myth, they're completely different cell types. How can a muscle cell turn into a fat cell? Do skin cells turn into neurons?

[Kingace]

Similar to the myth that fat can be turned into muscle.

[mjh]

as has been said, no. Muscles and fat are different things, they don't "turn into" each other. You can lose muscle and gain fat if you don't look after yourself. Also, there's a thread here about that photo of Arnie which talks about why he may not look like he used to (age, health problems, busy job).

[wrenchhands]

I reckon this be one of them, "caustion/correlation" situations.

It seems like it's the case, because as you get older, your body produces less of the stuff needed to grow and maintain muscles.

Plus, as people get older, they lose interest in fitness. Maybe they only played in high school/college and dropped sports after that. Maybe they worked out for aesthetic purposes but met someone and let their body go. Maybe their job is soul crushing and drains them of energy. Maybe they just never had the "bug" to begin with.

[Wellhairedbeast]

No thats not how the science works. But can you lose the muscle but gain fat when your old? Yes this happens to most people from their childhood and into their adult lives, they don't eat correctly or exercise so they just get fat. Age is actually irrelevant (except in terms of performance, or pre-existing health issues if you only exercise by the time its too late), if you train all your life and eat well then you'll be gold.

Lots of old people are frail, lots of old people have hunch backs etc etc. This can be prevented through maintaining your health, obviously you can't prevent a disease outside of your control but the lifestyle diseases can be prevented at least.

I have a great uncle who is an ex-paratrooper having fought in WW2. Now he may have health issues but military life taught him to keep himself in good order, as such he gets out and about and is very mobile, hes even (against family advice) been up on the roof to fix things.

[wrenchhands]

A life time of hunching = hunch backs, right?

What other things are doing that will fuck us over thourgh repeated use/non=correction?

[Sam277]

Plus, as people get older, they lose interest in fitness. Maybe they only played in high school/college and dropped sports after that.

Bang on. Arnold stopped lifting to become governor of california.

As you get older you tend to do less exercise and produce less testosterone, thus your metabolism slows down, and you lose muscle.

You can't do anything about the production of test, (other than supplementing with it), but if you continue to exercise your metabolism won't change. It's a myth that metabolism drops with age.

Inevitably you will lose a bit of muscle and strength when you get older, but no you won't get fat if your diet stay in tune.

[Love_Deadlifts]

Do muscles turn to fat when you get old?

I know other people have said it already, but i figure, "the more, the merrier."

No. Muscles can not transform into fat, period.

[Shoke]

Thanks for the clarification....the question is though, what happens to all that bulk that used to be muscle? If you no longer maintain it, won't it just turn into saggy skin/meat?

[killerdude494949]

Do skin cells turn into neurons?

hahahahaha

[killerdude494949]

Thanks for the clarification....the question is though, what happens to all that bulk that used to be muscle? If you no longer maintain it, won't it just turn into saggy skin/meat?

The muscles will shrink back to normal size. And if your body is holding 100 lbs of additional muscle, your metabolism will be on fire compared to the average person. So say you stop training and you eventually lose all of that muscle. You're metabolism will turn to shit and you will get fat as a result.

[Veritas]

Do skin cells turn into neurons?

hahahahaha

http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2 ... ell-neuron

The muscles will shrink back to normal size. And if your body is holding 100 lbs of additional muscle, your metabolism will be on fire compared to the average person. So say you stop training and you eventually lose all of that muscle. You're metabolism will turn to shit and you will get fat as a result.

+ it's normal to get a higher % of fat when you get older. That's where "muscles turn to fat" comes from.

I think anyway

[Shahzad]

Do skin cells turn into neurons?

hahahahaha

http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2 ... ell-neuron

Stem cells manipulated in the lab are not what I was talking about, but that should be obvious.

[JasonLB]

With so many millions of completely untrained older folks running around with "bitch tits," I'm not sure why you think gaining muscle while young has anything to do with it.

As one ages, the same rules about staying active and watching your diet apply whether you are Arnold or someone's grandma. But if you need proof age doesn't turn muscle into fat, google Dave Draper.