JJ Virgin4x NYTimes Best Selling Author, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Fitness Hall of Famer

Strength Decline in Women

3 Apr 2026 · 1 min

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0:53

In this brief YouTube clip, JJ Virgin explains how women experience age‑related declines in muscle, strength, and especially power. She states that starting around age 30, women can lose up to 1 % of muscle mass per year (averaging 3–8 % per decade). However, the loss of functional capacity is far greater: strength declines 2–3 times faster than muscle mass, and power can drop as much as 6 % each year. Power—defined as the speed of movement—governs the ability to react quickly, adjust posture, and avoid hazards. A loss of power contributes to falls; she cites a scenario where a 65‑year‑old who could not shift her heel quickly fell, broke a hip, and, statistically, one‑third of such hip‑fracture patients die within a year. Virgin emphasizes that these population statistics are not destiny for any individual, implying that interventions can alter outcomes.

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Starting at age 30, you can lose up to 1% of your muscle a year. The average is 3 to 8% per decade, but that's actually not the problem. The real problem is that you lose 2 to 3 times that in strength. Now, muscle mass is how much muscle you have on your body. Strength is what heavy thing could you pick up one time. The bigger one though, even more than that, is power, and we can lose up to 6% of of our power every year. That power is how fast you can do something. Can you adjust yourself? Can you move quickly? Can you get outta the way of something? And that's where people get into trouble. That's where you'll hear that someone at age 65 couldn't adjust quickly, couldn't shift their heel quickly, and they fell and broke a hip. And a third of those people that fall and break that hip at 65 never get outta the hospital. They die within the year. Here's the important thing. These are the statistics, but these do not have to be your statistics.