Read an article in a local magazine quoting 3 times olympic gold medalist Peter Snell regarding this topic. He is from N.Z but now based in the USA as a Doctor with specialist knowledge in exercise physiology and cardiology.
The article only touched on the subject above, but some ideas were:
muscle size reduces with age, and exercise can help slow this,
The hippocampus(part of the brain important for memory formation etc…) reduces in size more slowly in those who exercise regularly.
exercise helps keep the heart healthy.
There was some more but much of the article involved motivational ideas for the elderly.
Do any of you ST’s out there have knowledge related to the above? Am interested to here what people think?
My first thought on the above is that a more healthy heart(cardiovascular system) as a result of exercise is pretty well known and even this alone is a large subject.
I do however think very strenuousexercise(over a long time) can start putting excess stress on the cardiovascular system which can be detrimental.
Peter Snell was a champion 800m/880y runner and I think his best was l.44.3 on grass and cinder tracks. He would certainly be faster by a second at least, on todays synthetic tracks and he did that time in 1962 in Christchurch NZ. His best 1 mile time was 3.54.l in Auckland, 1964. I have a book, written in 1965 by Garth Gilmour called No Bugles, No Drums and its about his athletic career and training at that time. He was coached by Arthur Lydiard .
I am 68 and been a competitive athlete since 1960 and raced about 10 marathons and over 15 half marathons. I have only ever done about 10 club tris. as I am a hopeles swimmer.
I competed in the world duathlon, 10/40/5, in 2005 only because it was held in Newcastle, Australia, where I live. I gained a top 10 finish in the 65-69.
I have always been around 10 to 11 stone and at 5’10 fairly thin, so I don’t think my muscles have shrunk much. I have had several a fib episodes in the last 5-6 years and an ecg showed nothing except a very slow heartbeat. 44 at the time. I only seem to get the a fibs in the summer and think dehydration might be a cause. When it comes on, I have found I can revert the heart back to normal beat in 4 hours or so by mixing up an electrolyte drink, which contains magnesium and take that with a 500mg magnesium tablet.
There is an interesting article on this subject by Mark Sisson on ST that I have read on the effect of hard training and racing and the effects on the body and he is probably right in what he says about free radicals aging the internal organs of the body.
I’m 52 and I probably exercise an average of 15 hours minimum per week. Most of this is cycling. I also do daily core exercises and brisk walking. Generally, I feel better than I remember feeling when I was in my twenties, but then I was an alcoholic, a workaholic and a heavy smoker. So go figure.
When I meet people who are my age, I’m usually shocked and wonder, do I look that old? Unfortunately, from the neck up, I do. From the neck down, I’m pretty sure I don’t (I don’t see these people naked, I’m just judging by the blobs that are stressing the seams of their clothes). My head and my body look like they belong to two different people.
I’ve been doing this for 15 years now. When I started, I probably didn’t look or feel much different from any other 37 year old. I know I now look and suspect I feel much better than most 52 year olds … not in terms of attractiveness, but in terms of fitness. When I was 50, I had a certain type of heart scan done where a dye is injected and a machine takes all these images of the heart from all different angles. When I was done, the cardiologist said my heart looked like it belonged to a very healthy twenty-something year old. This despite 13 years of alcoholism and 2 1/2 pack per day smoking earlier in life.
I think there are some things exercise slows. I think there are other things it reverses. I know for a fact that neither baldness nor shortness are influenced either way.
I am 45, and despite a greater level of diligence and focus in all aspects of my athletic and peripheral life…I am very close to all lifetime bests…set at times 2 decades ago.
More importantly, I get to kill people in the pool and then tell them my chronological age…and they just shit.
Read an article in a local magazine quoting 3 times olympic gold medalist Peter Snell regarding this topic. He is from N.Z but now based in the USA as a Doctor with specialist knowledge in exercise physiology and cardiology.
The article only touched on the subject above, but some ideas were:
muscle size reduces with age, and exercise can help slow this,
The hippocampus(part of the brain important for memory formation etc…) reduces in size more slowly in those who exercise regularly.
exercise helps keep the heart healthy.
There was some more but much of the article involved motivational ideas for the elderly.
Do any of you ST’s out there have knowledge related to the above?
Yes.
I did search and find the ST ‘happy hippocampus’ thread and it was good/funny.
also logged in to USA pubmed and read through a few articles. Found a few related to what I have been finding but will do more research of the articles. A few of them only had the abstracts?
here is a good one, but not related to my original post:
Hip muscle weakness and overuse injuries in recreational runners.
CONCLUSIONS: Although no cause-and-effect relationship has been established, this is the first study to show an association between hip abductor, adductor, and flexor muscle group strength imbalance and lower extremity overuse injuries in runners. Because most running injuries are multifaceted in nature, areas secondary to the site of pain, such as hip muscle groups exhibiting strength imbalances, must also be considered to gain favorable outcomes for injured runners. The addition of strengthening exercises to specifically identified weak hip muscles may offer better treatment results in patients with running injuries.
Physical activity of any kind has long been known as a potent anti-aging soloution. Many get worked up about what kind of physical activity is best. From what I have read - a brisk walk of 30 - 40 minutes a day is what is optimal. Anything beyond that and you really are doing way more than you need. Obviously most athletes training for triathlon are doing way more than they need to to maintain optimal health, but that’s fine too.
In terms of absolute performance, at 46 years old I can’t come anywhere near what I did years ago - but that’s the downfall of being moderatly good at a young age. However, what I have found over my middle-age years is that after the big bank of fitness that I built up from age 15 - 40, I really don’t need much to maintain a decent level of fitness now. My bench- mark now is my ability to ride 100K at a decent pace and I can still get myself to this level of fitness, fairly quickly.
Genetics aside, exercise in moderation throughout your life is probably the key. I’m not convinced that doing excessive endurance sports would extend anybody’s life however.
Kind of like red wine - there’s now conclusive evidence that a glass or two a day is good for your heart, but try drinking a bottle or two a day and all health benefits will be erased.
Now I have had a good read of what is available of the work you have done. It is very related to the subject of this thread.
Thanks so much for this link .
Below is some research information which is what I was looking for in particular:
The effects of aging and training on skeletal muscle. Kirkendall DT, Garrett WE Jr.
Department of Physical and Occupational Therapy, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA.
Aging results in a gradual loss of muscle function, and there are predictable age-related alterations in skeletal muscle function. The typical adult will lose muscle mass with age; the loss varies according to sex and the level of muscle activity. At the cellular level, muscles loose both cross-sectional area and fiber numbers, with type II muscle fibers being the most affected by aging. Some denervation of fibers may occur. The combination of these factors leads to an increased percentage of type 1 fibers in older adults. Metabolically, the glycolytic enzymes seem to be little affected by aging, but the aerobic enzymes appear to decline with age. Aged skeletal muscle produces less force and there is a general “slowing” of the mechanical characteristics of muscle. However, neither reduced muscle demand nor the subsequent loss of function is inevitable with aging. These losses can be minimized or even reversed with training. Endurance training can improve the aerobic capacity of muscle, and resistance training can improve central nervous system recruitment of muscle and increase muscle mass. Therefore, physical activity throughout life is encouraged to prevent much of the age-related impact on skeletal muscle.