# Is losing your ass part of the aging process **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 23, 2002, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-losing-your-ass-part-of-the-aging-process/125259 "2002-08-23T17:04:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-losing-your-ass-part-of-the-aging-process/125259/1 "2002-08-23T17:04:40Z")
As some people get older, their ass seems to shrink away so that they completely lose it. My father observed this idly as proof that he was getting old. Though his weight has not changed (in fact it’s gone up in the last twenty years,) he now has a lot of extra room in the seat of his pants. It seems that this happens to many, but by no means all people, as they age. Why do old people lose their asses? ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-losing-your-ass-part-of-the-aging-process/125259/2 "2002-08-23T18:32:43Z")
I’m serious about all this…and part of the requests I get from men and women are about their asses and how to improve. So…here goes: The glut muscles pretty much make up your ass size. Several things happen with age: 1. natural loss of muscle mass, most noticable in large groups like the gluts 2. Decreases activity, leading to decrease muscle mass (this is atrophy) 3. Less bending at knees because knees get crickety - bending at knees helps keeps gluts firm and keeps them from atrophying - so if you stop, you work the gluts less. 4. More fat on waistline in men, reducing the appearance of their ass/gluts ( fat men seem to have no ass, just a short crack, then nothing) …this is because men store fat right at the waist, but not on the ass. Women store it on the ass and hips, enhancing actual ass size. This facts are irrefutable. Want you old ass back? Everyone needs to reduce calories, get to ideal body weight and return to the exercise they did when younger. I can give you a specific ass program. Just holler. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-losing-your-ass-part-of-the-aging-process/125259/3 "2002-08-23T20:15:59Z")
Yep, what **Philster** said. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-losing-your-ass-part-of-the-aging-process/125259/4 "2002-08-23T20:28:51Z")
Yep, what **Philster** said. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-losing-your-ass-part-of-the-aging-process/125259/5 "2002-08-24T00:26:53Z")
Now that the OP has been so eloquently answered can I assert that most middle-class white guys have lost their ass since the first quarter of 2000. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Patrol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dbc845/32.png) [@Cat\_Patrol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Patrol)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-losing-your-ass-part-of-the-aging-process/125259/6 "2002-08-24T02:01:09Z")
I agree with Philster. I, myself, have never had much of an ass(my wife says it’s my only physical flaw). In fact, my legs seem to go straight up into my back. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-losing-your-ass-part-of-the-aging-process/125259/7 "2002-08-24T02:47:02Z")
As far as I can tell, it’s a husband to wife donation process. And they say we’re not giving… bah! ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-losing-your-ass-part-of-the-aging-process/125259/8 "2002-08-24T02:53:41Z")
Well, my Dad seems to be gaining ass, as well as belly and man-boobs. My grandfather rapidly lost his ass, belly, and man-boobs, and then he died. Should I be worried? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-losing-your-ass-part-of-the-aging-process/125259/9 "2002-08-24T06:36:09Z")
The loss of muscle as you age has a technical name: sarcopenia. You may want to apply it to the search engine of your choice. ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-losing-your-ass-part-of-the-aging-process/125259/10 "2002-08-24T17:30:56Z")
Wow. It has its own website, [sarcopenia.com](http://sarcopenia.com) Just don’t search for [sarcopenis](http://mentock.home.mindspring.com/geology/index.htm)