As a professional athlete growing older, one of the main questions you have to ask yourself is how to combat the effects of aging and prolong your career. Seriously considering and researching this area could help you add years to your competitive abilities and enable you to train well and play to a high standard for a longer time.
Why are athletes considered to be in their prime when they’re young?
There is no doubt that athletes in many sports are considered to have reached their prime at a very young age, relatively speaking.
It is well known that VO2 max, the measurement of endurance and sprint power in the body, starts to steadily tail off in your 30s. Even athletes who train longer or harder to stop VO2 max from declining find that it has little impact overall. This is one of the reasons that younger athletes with higher VO2 max levels are in their prime.
The other major factor that explains why many athletes are considered to be in their prime at a younger age is simply that they have stronger and more powerful muscles. These muscles in a younger person respond better to stress and can recover more quickly. There is no denying that as we age, our bodies naturally slow down and our muscle definition is lost.
In addition, by the time most athletes reach their mid-30s, they will have been playing and training for a long time, which will naturally build up stress on the body. If you look at soccer, basketball or NFL players, they all tend to retire in their late 30s, which shows the effects of playing for a sustained period of time on their bodies.
Can the effects of aging be combatted?
Although younger athletes are naturally in their prime, this does not mean that more experienced athletes cannot attempt to tailor their training routine to remain competitive. The ability to age well and maintain optimum health is the key to playing for longer and staying fit.
The most important step is amending your training regimen. If you train like a 20-year-old when you are 35, you are heading for trouble because of the stress you will place on your body and also when it comes to the effectiveness of the exercises. In 2012, a group of French researchers conducted a study that found strength training was the vital component in older athletes fighting the effects of age.
The study found that by following a strength training regimen, the athletes had increased their leg strength by 17.9 percent by the end of the three-week program. This supports the idea that the biggest threat to older athletes’ abilities to perform to a high standard is the loss of muscle mass and definition.
A good strength training program involving weight work helps to negate this and stimulate muscle and bone density growth. In addition, you must think about the frequency and intensity of your training program. It is thought that older athletes fare better when doing shorter but higher intensity workouts as opposed to longer, less hectic sessions.
How important is diet?
It should come as no surprise to the serious athlete that diet and nutrition are the keys to performing well, and this is even truer as you age. Looking after your body in every way will help it perform and stay healthy for longer.
Your general diet should be full of fruit, vegetables and lean protein. These will give your body all the vitamins, minerals and food groups it needs to stay healthy and compete effectively. Plenty of water is also needed to stay hydrated and help transport all the vitamins and minerals throughout the body.
Of course, many athletes need to consume slightly different foods or supplements pre-or post-workout as the body needs different fuel at those times. For the older athlete who is following a high-intensity workout, a recovery shake full of protein and carbohydrates is ideal to aid recovery from the session.
Are you getting enough sleep?
Along with diet and nutrition, getting enough sleep is a very important aspect of being an older athlete. When you sleep, your body recovers from the day’s activities and also releases testosterone, so cutting sleep is a bad idea. It not only depends on how long you sleep but also the quality and regularity of your sleep. It is well worth trying to establish a bedtime routine so you go to bed and get up at roughly the same time each day whenever possible. Make sure your bedroom is kept quiet and at a good temperature so you can drift off easily and not be woken up in the middle of the night.
Is hormone testing worth considering?
A new approach to the effects of age on the human body is to treat it like a disease. One of the ways to do this is by looking into the treatments for aging that are available now.
One good option is a hormone test that will tell you if you are showing the signs of aging already by looking at the various levels of hormones like DHEA and testosterone in your body. Once the results from these tests are available, they can help guide treatment decisions. There is plenty of information about getting a hormone imbalance test online.
Preventative measures such as these tests can help you identify any issues early. This will enable you to find the treatment you need to solve any hormonal imbalances and amend your lifestyle and training program. This approach to fighting the effects of aging on you as an athlete could well be the way forward in playing at a higher level for longer.
Being an older athlete doesn’t mean slowing down
Being an older athlete doesn’t mean stopping your activities altogether or slowing down drastically. If you can eat well, sleep well, change your training regimen to suit your age, and look into recent innovations like hormone testing to help, there is no reason you cannot continue to compete and be effective as a sportsperson regardless of your age.