26. Speed Up Your Metabolism NOW (The Power is in Your Muscles)

In today's episode of Extend, I'm diving into one of the most powerful and underutilized tools for your health and longevity: strength training. Whether you're a gym regular or just getting started, this episode will break down the science and practical strategies you need to transform your fitness routine. Together, we'll explore the four essential pillars of strength training: building and preserving muscle as you age, how your muscles directly impact your metabolism, the surprising role of muscles as an endocrine organ, and how to create an effective, sustainable routine that fits your lifestyle. From understanding the difference between slow and fast-twitch muscle fibers to how myokines impact everything from brain health to inflammation, this episode is packed with game-changing insights. I'm also sharing actionable tips for optimizing your workouts, from training to failure for muscle growth to recovery techniques like proper sleep, protein intake, and using saunas post-workout. Whether you're 20 or 70, it's never too late to reap the life-extending benefits of strength training. Ready to take your fitness to the next level? Tune in ! I also discuss: (00:12) Why Strength Training is the Ultimate Longevity Tool (03:14) The Truth About Muscle Loss and Aging (06:35) How Strength Training Transforms Metabolic Health (17:38) Strength Training: The Key to Consistency and Longevity Learn more about Dr. Shah: Website: https://www.drshah.com/ Clinic: https://www.next-health.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darshanshahmd/

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:03Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Welcome to Extend with me, Dr. Darshan Shah, a podcast dedicated to cutting-edge science, research, tools, and protocols designed to help you extend your health span. Having become one of the youngest doctors in the country at the age of 21, and trained and board-certified at the Mayo Clinic, I've accumulated three decades of practice as a board-certified surgeon and longevity expert. Over that time, I've discovered that a mere 20% of health knowledge yields 80% of the results when it comes to your health span. We're living in a new era where we are creating a new healthcare system, no longer focused on disease management, but achieving optimal health and vitality. Join me as I interview world-renowned experts, offering you a step-by-step guide to proactively avoid disease, and most importantly, extend your health span.

• 0:49Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Welcome back to the Extend Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Darshan Shah, and today I'm going to be diving into one of the most audience-requested topics for the podcast, and really the cornerstone of your health and longevity. I'm talking about strength training. Whether you're a seasoned lifter or someone who's never stepped foot in the gym, this solo show will break down the science and benefits of strength training for you so you get maximum impact from your strength training routine and really learn how to integrate it into your life. In my opinion, there's very few uses of your self-care time that have the same effect per unit time as what you spend in the gym, strength training, or at home. Another way I can say this is that if you only have one hour a week and you can spend it in the gym,

• 1:33Dr. Darshan Shah?

  most of us should use it to lift heavy weights. I cannot emphasize enough how much strength training can affect not just your muscles, but also your overall fitness, your metabolic health, your bone health, and even your brain health. Strength training definitely can add years to your lifespan and your health span. So let's start this discussion with some science around why strength training is crucial. The science is really divided in four major pillars where studies have been shown and done in many, many people who maintain strength versus do not maintain their strength. Pillar one is how to optimally build and preserve muscle mass as we age and the various protocols we can use to get maximum impact.

• 2:17Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Number two, how improving muscle health leads to improve metabolic health by increasing your insulin sensitivity and resting metabolic rate. Number three, how your muscle is actually an endocrine organ. This is an organ that secretes hormones and it can prevent disease through many other pathways that you might not have ever thought about. And finally, number four, how to optimize your routine and fit it into your lifestyle. So first, let's discuss muscle mass and aging. Circopenia is a medical term that we use to describe the age-related loss of muscle mass and strength. There was a massive study done on lean mass on 2,000 people.

• 2:58Dr. Darshan Shah?

  This was a study back in 2021 that showed that starting as early as in our 30s, we lose about 3 to 8% of muscle mass per decade. That's quite a lot. Without intervention, there's another dramatic sharp decline that starts at age 60, where without intervention, you have this sharp accelerated loss of muscle over time. The consequences of this loss of muscle are stark. Fat infiltrates into your muscle, making it weak, which in turn weakens your bones. This leads to increased frailty, decreased mobility, and a high risk of falling. Basically, you become a little old man or woman and you're barely able to walk without a walker or being in a wheelchair. Have you ever seen the MRI picture on the internet of the 40-year-old triathlete versus

• 3:41Dr. Darshan Shah?

  the 74-year-old sedentary person versus the 70-year-old triathlete? This was actually a picture made famous by one of my podcast guests, Dr. Wright. She was on my podcast a couple of weeks ago, talking to me about this study that she had published in 2011. She warns that this is universally a true phenomenon. The consequences of not exercising and not lifting heavy weights for both men and women can lead to a drastic loss of muscle that will cause more falls, more frailty, and more chronic disease. The good news is, however, it's never too late to regain your muscle. For some incredible reason, our body maintains the ability to build muscle throughout our lifetimes.

• 4:22Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Another study done in 2020 made 70-year-old men and women go through the same strength training protocol as a group of 20-year-olds. And guess what happened? Both groups gained 80% muscle compared to their sedentary baselines in six weeks. So this study showed that whether you're in your 20s or your 70s, you can have the same percentage gain of muscle mass with the same strength training program. It's pretty incredible, isn't it? Next, let's talk about the entire idea of metabolic health and your muscles. As I have said many times on many episodes, your metabolism lives in your muscle. The amount and the strength of muscle you have determines the efficiency of your body's ability to clear glucose from your bloodstream.

• 5:07Dr. Darshan Shah?

  So why is this? Well, you have to remember the mitochondria. These are the tiny little organelles inside each one of our cells. We have thousands of them. These are particularly dense inside of your muscle fibers. About 50% of your entire body's mitochondria are located within muscle. They have a particular concentration in what's called your slow twitch muscle fibers. More on this later. This mitochondrial abundance in your muscle is critical for generating ATP, which is the energy our body uses for activities like exercise and all your daily activities. So your muscle is actually a metabolic organ, playing a critical role in regulating blood

• 5:47Dr. Darshan Shah?

  sugar levels and helping you burn excess fuel before you start secreting insulin. This is why it's critical to maintain your muscle mass and also a really good idea to go for a walk after every single one of your meal. This activation body and your muscles' ability to utilize the energy you just consumed before insulin starts getting secreted and you start storing this excess glucose as fat. So let's take a quick segue here because I think it's important to talk about the different muscle fiber types. And even though it gets a little bit complicated, I'm going to break it down really simply for you. There are two types of muscle fibers. You have your slow twitch muscle fibers. These are type one. And these are designed for endurance-type activities like running long distances and cycling.

• 6:32Dr. Darshan Shah?

  At a particular level of exercise called Zone 2, you really rely on just oxygen for energy. This is called aerobic metabolism. And this is a really efficient way of making energy that you can use over long periods of time. These muscle fibers contract slowly, they're resistant to fatigue, and they appear red due to their high concentration of mitochondria, myoglobin, and capillaries. In contrast, you also have another type of muscle fiber, which is called your type 2 fast-twitch muscle fibers. And these are built for explosive, high-intensity activities like sprinting and weightlifting. They use anaerobic metabolism primarily to generate quick, powerful contractions, but they also get tired pretty rapidly.

• 7:16Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Training can enhance both types of muscle fibers, with aerobic exercise benefiting slow-twitch muscle fibers, so this is kind of your Zone 2 exercise, and anaerobic or resistant training optimizing fast-twitch muscle fibers. Fast-twitch fibers have a larger diameter and respond to resistant training by growing in size, that's called hypertrophy, and it leads to increased overall strength and muscle mass. It's very important to have a training routine that trains both of these muscle fibers. Okay, so now let's discuss the ways in which your muscles are actually a powerful natural pharmacy, producing the hormones and proteins your body needs to stay healthy and prevent disease. Your muscles secrete a group of compounds called myokines.

• 8:01Dr. Darshan Shah?

  I talked about these with Dr. Luisa Nicola when she talked about brain health as related to muscle health in my previous podcast episode. Myokines are signaling proteins released by your muscle during a contraction, and they play a critical role in the communication between your muscles and all the other tissues of your body, like your brain, your liver, your bones. Many tissues respond to these myokines. So these bioactive molecules are part of the body's endocrine hormonal system, and they influence various physiological processes, including your metabolism, how much inflammation.

• 8:36Dr. Darshan Shah?

  You have and your tissue repair. Exercise, especially resistance training and aerobic training, stimulate the release of these myokines, such as interleukin six, orison, and brain-derived neurotropic growth factor. Myokines help regulate glucose uptake. They promote fat breakdown, and they enhance insulin sensitivity, and they reduce chronic inflammation. All of these contributing to your overall good health. In addition, they play a role in promoting muscle growth as well. They actually improve your brain function by increasing BDNF, brain-derived neurotropic growth factor. And they also support your cardiovascular health by decreasing high blood pressure and increasing your cardiac muscle capability.

• 9:20Dr. Darshan Shah?

  This really underscores the important benefits of having a good strength training routine. There are so many effects throughout the entire body that are positive. This is one of the powerful mechanisms by which training our muscles can actually prevent Alzheimer's disease, cardiovascular disease, and even cancer. I often present during my stage presentations the CDC's Top 10 Causes of Why Humans Die. And I could tell you that muscle training can affect almost every single one of these. It can actually even keep your immune system healthy, so it is more active against cancer and infections, which take out a majority of us later on in life. So hopefully, I've convinced you that strength training is much more about just looking ripped at the gym.

• 10:05Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Next, let's talk about the science around developing the optimal strength training routine for you. There are five key facts that everyone needs to know. Fact number one is you actually need a lot less time at the gym than you think. It's much more about consistency. Did you know that it only takes one to four sets per week per muscle to see a large proportion of the benefit of strength training? Some studies say up to 80%. This was actually shown in a study by Ralston and his group in 2017 that's often quoted by the powerlifting community. Hypertrophy, which is developing larger muscles, needs about five to nine sets per week per muscle group to get 80% of the result. This was according to another key study by Schoenfield in 2017.

• 10:52Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Fact number two, the key to strength training, as I mentioned earlier, is consistency. Doing two sets a week per muscle group every week without fail is infinitely more beneficial than an eight set per group routine done for a couple of months and then taking a month off and then getting back into it slowly over time. Having a consistent weekly routine, even just two to three times a week, done for 20 to 30 minutes, is so much better than this start-stomp methodology. So you want to create a training program that you will stick to, week after week and month after month, that is not difficult for you to fit into your lifestyle. If you end up doing more, that's great, but always have a number of minimum sets per

• 11:36Dr. Darshan Shah?

  week that you do that's non-negotiable for you. This leads me to fact number three. Tracking progress is critical. Tracking your progress helps maintain motivation and it helps you to assure that you're not wasting your time at your gym. Let me explain. You want to make sure that tracking your max weight that you can lift per muscle group and using this data to do what's called progressively overload your muscles. What I mean by this is that for every exercise that you're doing, for every muscle group, you should only be able to do five to eight reps before you can't do anymore. Keep at this weight until it's easier and easier to do up to 10 reps. Once you get here, start adding more weight. You have to create the signal that your muscles need to create more power to keep them growing

• 12:21Dr. Darshan Shah?

  and strength and size. This is going to be impossible to do without one, some sort of tracking system. A lot of people use paper gym logs. I actually like to use an app. It's called Strong and it helps me to track the reps and the weights and how many sets I've done per session and per week, so I can keep moving in the right direction. Remember, training to failure is going to be a key methodology to continually increase your muscle mass and strength. And you also want to make sure that you're tracking what that weight is, so you can add more weight as it gets easier and easier to lift that weight. I have a great episode with Andy Galpin, who's an expert in this, and he talks about

• 13:02Dr. Darshan Shah?

  how you can break through plateaus with your weight training and how sometimes you might actually want to go back down to a lower weight to improve if you've hit a plateau. You can refer back to that episode about plateaus, because I also think that's a very important concept here. Next, let's move on to fact number four. You need to prioritize quality over quantity for a few reasons. This is often a very overlooked and underappreciated aspect of strength training. It's so much better to lift with less weight and with good form than to hurt yourself by lifting a heavy weight that your movement patterns are not adapted to. There are tons of videos available and no cost on YouTube to teach you form, but nothing beats, in my opinion, the coaching of an excellent trainer at your gym

• 13:46Dr. Darshan Shah?

  for your first foray into the weight room. Working with a trainer to continually watch your form and make sure you're achieving a good form until you can do it automatically is key before you're let loose in doing all of the complex movements on your own. Finally, let's talk about the last fact, number five, that your recovery program is probably just as important as your lifting program. So here are some of the pillars of recovery. Sleep, you want to aim to 79 hours per night of good, restorative sleep. This will allow time for your muscles to repair and grow. Nutrition, you want to prioritize protein intake, about one gram per pound of body weight. I have another episode on protein intake that goes into the nuances here.

• 14:29Dr. Darshan Shah?

  And finally, active recovery, including activities like stretching or light cardio to support blood flow and mobility after your workout. There's other large studies that are pretty incredible that show the beneficial effects of using supplements like creatine and also magnesium with your strength training routine. And also the use of sauna immediately after your strength training routine can really increase the efficacy of that particular workout. So my friends, strength training is one of the most important, powerful tools that we have for extending our health span and enhancing our life. It's never too late to get started at the gym or at your home with a good strength

• 15:11Dr. Darshan Shah?

  training routine, and the benefits go far beyond that immediate workout. Talk to a trainer and get to the gym and buy some weights. Create a program to exercise your major muscle groups at least two to three times per week. Train to failure with every set. Sleep well, get enough protein, use amino acids and creatine in the sauna after a workout if it's available. And number one rule with strength training is remember to always be consistent. Don't take weeks off from your program. Do all of this and you'll reap the benefits of the most powerful tool at our disposal for longevity. Thank you so much for joining me today on the Extend Podcast. If this episode resonated with you, share it with a friend or a family member who can benefit from a good strength training routine.

• 15:55Dr. Darshan Shah?

  And as always, take charge of your health. You're the CEO of your own body. Until next time, stay strong, stay healthy, and keep extending your lifespan. Thank you. Thank you so much for listening to the podcast today. Please remember to subscribe if you liked this episode and give us a good review and share a link with your friends. It really helps to support all of our efforts. I also want to remind you that the information shared on this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Please consult with your healthcare provider or physician before making any decisions or taking any action based on what you hear today, especially if you have any underlying

• 16:38Dr. Darshan Shah?

  health conditions or on any medications. Your doctor knows your personal health situation the best, and it's always important to seek their guidance.