Older people who have never taken part in exercise programmes have the same ability to build muscle mass as highly trained master athletes of a similar age researchers have found. Our study clearly shows that it doesn't matter if you haven't been a regular exerciser throughout your life you can still derive benefit from exercise whenever you start. Obviously a long term commitment to good health and exercise is the best approach to achieve whole-body health but even starting later on in life will help delay age-related frailty and muscle weakness study lead researcher Leigh Breen from the University of