Molecules, ageing and exercise

Ideally, you should read the section on the mTOR pathway in Chapter 6 before starting this chapter as we assume this knowledge here. After an introduction to the general ageing hypotheses we will ask the question ‘Why does our exercise capacity decrease with advancing age?' First, we will discuss the normal decline of our muscle mass and strength during ageing, which is called sarcopenia (Rosenberg, 1997). Second, we will examine why our endurance capacity or V. O2max drops and try to identify molecular causes for these ageing events.