I started triathlons (Sprints) two years ago at age 55. On my 6th this June. I thought I was pretty cool on my first until I saw the 68 and 72 year-olds pass me on the final leg of the runs. Something to look forward to? For me its all about breathing right and eating well. I do enjoy a regular bourbon after my collagens.
In my 60s and a running addict. Have recently learned to step away from age denial, and to favor quality over quantity.
2
As an Ortho Surgeon and senior athlete the 3 most important things to do are.
1. Maintain a normal to slightly low body weight. Less stress on joints, etc.2.Strength train because as we age we inexorably lose muscle mass and strength.3. Stretching to maintain flexibility especially in sports that require extremes in range of motion eg. tennis, golf. Bonus: get your eyes checked every few years. Seeing the ball clearly is a big help.
10
Collagen and gelatin consist of proteins which when digested are all broken down into amino acids. What matters is the amino acid profile of any given diet and not the source of the protein. Some proteins contain more of certain amino acids that others and this is all that matters. Why would collagen be better than say whey protein which has been shown to build muscle? And where are the studies showing eating collagen helps tendons?
10
Clearly there are several factors at play with aging well...
Genetics - always a factor
Accumulated Injuries
Overtraining
Injuries create scar tissue and damage to joints that are aggravated by athletic/training activity. This is probably the "real" reason older athletes need more recovery time. If you try to work an inflamed joint/tendon/muscle - you just create more damage rather than benefiting from the training.
Athletes perceive they are losing some athletic attribute and then will train "harder" to overcome the loss - except that usually just results in overtraining creating damage instead of benefit. It becomes a negative feedback loop. They actually need to train less to allow the damage to heal.
Some athletes train too little to avoid the above issues or just never had to [genetics] and start suffering loss of ability.
The older athlete needs to work around their particular mix of accumulated injuries and inherent training limits. There is a sweet spot between too little and too much.
Endurance seems the easier thing to maintain. The heart and lungs, properly trained, are surprisingly resilient.
Full Disclosure: I’m 55 years old, lifelong exerciser/athlete. Currently run circles around the youngsters in Aikido (martial arts). Highly recommend HIIT, bodywork, agility and strength training.
5
There's nothing very sweet when working around an injury for rehabilitation and cautiously trying to restore strength and flexibility. Rather than a sweet spot, a misguided cliche, we could speak of a "juste milieu", the right in-between. Which is anyway what we're striving for when mindful of the importance of graduated, slow, measured, and controled progression.
3
How does a "right in-between" differ from a "sweet spot", aside from being a neologism? They sound like exactly the same thing.
George Foreman ate hamburgers.
4
Maybe ones with extra gristle.
Talking with ortho Doctors before and after my hip replacement surgery, the one thing they told me NOT to do was run (impact exercise).
4
Caveat: Sample size of one.
I am a physical mess now but I was in good shape and exercising seriously well into my 50s. One thing I noticed as I aged into my 20s and beyond was that by mid-decade agewise it was taking one more day each decade to recover from the good muscle tiredness of a hard workout. In HS it took a day. With the Nautilus machines of my 50s, 5 days.
2
How many days after an intense workout before my muscles stop aching is the biggest change from my I have seen as well as I have gotten older.
2