By Mark Janas, Ed.D. |
It’s no big secret that in most sports athletes hit theirpeak somewhere between their mid twenties and early thirties.Physiologicalfunction begins todecline. Personal bests are a thing of the past. Theyounger competitors knock the older ones off the podium.It’s nature.It’s thecircle of life. Of course, as the French entertainer Maurice Chevalieronce said,“Oldage isn’t so bad when you consider the alternative.”
Agingathletes often find themselves at a crossroads facing their inevitable physicaldecline. Some may quitaltogether.Others might trypharmaceutical aids to continuecompeting. The smart ones adapt, look for new sources ofmotivation, and even get creative in their quest to stay fit and competitive.
Effects of Aging onAthletes
Before diving into how tostay motivated to be active in sports and remain fit with age, it’s worth a quick primer on what exactly the aging processdoes toathletes.
Aging bodies don’t use oxygen as efficiently, which is a huge factor in particularfor endurance sports.VO2max, anumber that indicates how muchoxygen the body can use per unit of body weight,declines by an average of about 10% per decade after age 30.The higher the VO2max, the more fitsomeone is. Thegood news isthat an active person can cut that decline in half or more.Much of the decline in VO2max isdirectly related to the decline in the maximal heart rate withage, which isunavoidable no matter how active someone is. The old formula, max HR = 220 – age, holds true for most people.
For sports that requirestrength and power, there are other considerations. Power and strength depend on the availability of type 2 or “fast twitch” muscle fibers.Research shows that the raw numbers of fast twitchfibers are lost with age, and they’re lost at a much higher rate than the “slowtwitch” muscle fibers required forendurance sports.
Complicatingmatters even more, aging bodies take longer to recover, both from injury andovertraining. (Thus, adaptation to training takes longer too.)Competitive athletesoften don’t know when to slow down orback off, leading to more frequent andchronic injuries.
Butthat’s it for the bad news.Thegood news is that the process can be managed, but success in managing the process requires attention toboth physiology and psychology.
The Physiology
The strategy required to managethe physiology associated with aging is largely straightforward.
First and foremost, the aging athlete must remain active.Actually, everyone, not just athletes, must stay active if they want to stay healthy as the years advance.Researchindicates that the greatest threat to thehealth is inactivity.Inactivity leads to atrophy and a hostof associated health problems. Estimates are that regular exercise may slow physiologicdecline associated withage by up to 50%.
As far as which activities are most beneficial, the aging athlete needs to consider cross trainingand active recovery strategies to engage different muscles and to avoidoveruse of any specific joint or muscle group.For example,older runners might consider adding cycling, swimming, or paddling to theirroutines. Weightlifting, yoga, andeven interval training, where the focus ison quality over quantity, might be good options for many as well.Strengthtraining can be particularly important to combat theloss of muscle mass andthe associated loss of strength.
Equally important, the aging athlete must pay moreattention to, well…everything, including things that could betaken for granted only a few years earlier.The “no pain, no gain” mantra must be taken with a grain of salt (the figurative type, not the electrolyte type)! The aging athlete mustknow when to back off or rest or risk more serious injury.
There are many considerations, including proper stretching before exercise. The aging athlete must be sure to get enough sleep.Sleep deficiency can lead todepressed immune function and decreased mental acuity. It can also degradeathletic performance because the human growth hormone needed for recovery and adaptation totraining is secreted in the body during sleep.
The aging athlete must pay close attention to diet, both in terms of quality and quantityof food.That includes being sure to consume the right types of nutrients, such ascarbohydrates, protein,and electrolytes before, during, and after exercise.
Supplements,particularly antioxidants should be considered to help reduce oxidative stressand free-radical damage. Excess sugar that can aggravate inflammationshould beavoided.Reducing or eliminating alcohol consumption can be helpful as well.That’s not to say that every pleasure in life should beavoided altogether.As Woody Allenonce said,“You can live to be a hundred if you give up all things that make youwant to live to be a hundred.”
The Psychology
The suggestions above will help manage the physical changes associated withaging, but physiology is only one part of the puzzle.When facedwith the realization ofperformance decline, the motivation for an athlete to train and stay active may change.An ultracompetitive person might quitaltogether, or the motivation mayeventually morph into simply the desire tostay fit. The latter of course is preferred.
Thereis no “one size fits all” approach to staying motivated, but there are someways to jumpstart the process.Trying something new may be one ofthe easiest waysto stay motivated, satisfy the competitive urge, and achievecross training benefits at the same time.
Thatsame aging runner discussed earlier might take up a new activity, such asstand-up paddle boarding. Heor she will likely quickly become proficient at the sport by simplyapplying the sametraining habits applied in their running.The athlete will become a faster paddler, achieve new personal bests on the water, and otherwise meet the need to compete. Of course, the aging runner will also reap the benefits of active recovery that will reduce their chance of injury and possibly extend his or her running career.
Sure,for a fleeting moment, the aging runner might consider the fact that he or she might have been a faster paddler had he or she paddled decades earlier, but that’s only hypothetical.The fact is thatthis paddler is as fast as he or she has ever been. (Side note, stand up paddle boarding didn’t become a real “thing” for the masses until the 2000’s, so there’s always that too.)
NBA great Reggie Miller comes to mind in this discussion.Miller loves to compete and has missedthe action on thecourt since retiring from the game.He tookup mountain biking and now in his fifties competes regularly and has even earned a podium or two in his race class. Miller is a better mountain biker than he has ever been.
But, that “something new” may not necessarily haveto be something that is overly physical in nature.It could bepickleball, racecar simulator driving, golf, or just about anyactivity thatengages competition.
That’snot to say that a 60-year old athlete can’t get what he needs out of runningcircles around other 60-year olds (and other younger runners) at the local 5Ks.But for many it may be easier toexercise and remain active when not as pressured to compete.Exercising for the sake of staying healthy and fit might be enough if the competitive itch can be scratched outside of sports that require more physical prowess. Thebottom line is that stayingmotivated requires some internal retrospection, andit might involve more than a single activity or hobby. The most important thing is to keep moving, no matter what it takes.
Mark Janas, BS, MBA, EdD is an amateur endurance athlete and founder of In3 Investments, LLC, a technology and business development firm based in Raleigh, N.C. with holdings in several sport-related businesses. Dr. Janas also teaches in the Sport Management program at Saint Augustine’s University. He earned his doctorate in sports management from the United States Sports Academy.
