Adults who don’t engage in strength training stand to lose five to 10 per cent of their muscle mass per decade. “By the age of 80, most people who do not lift weights will have lost roughly 50 per cent of their strength,” says Maria Fiatarone Singh, professor of geriatric medicine and exercise science at the University of Sydney. This is “linked to frailty, falls, metabolic and cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline and earlier mortality”. She advises focusing on the glutes, quadriceps and triceps — the muscle groups that underpin standing, rising and climbing.