Why does athletic performance deteriorate with aging?
October 17th, 2012 - Posted in Exercise
Aging causes a much greater loss of strength than endurance, coordination or recovery time (Current Aging Science, February 17, 2010). Each muscle is made up of thousands of single muscle fibers and each year you lose many muscle fibers. No amount of exercise can prevent the lose of muscle fibers, muscle size and strength. For example, the vastus lateralis muscle of a 20 year old has almost 800,000 fibers. In a 60 year old, it has only 250,000.
Aging prevents muscles from responding to insulin. Insulin drives amino acids into muscles to help them recover from exercise and maintain strength. Using radioactive amino acids, researchers showed that insulin drives amino acids into muscles much more effectively in 25-y/o than in 60-y/o. Three exercise sessions per week for 20 weeks markedly increased blood flow in the legs of the older subjects and reversed some of the age-associated muscle wasting (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, September 2009).
The best way to prevent loss of strength with aging is to do the same stress-and-recover workouts used by competitive athletes. However, this could cause heart attacks in people who have blocked arteries. On one day, take a more intense workout by running or cycling faster or lifting heavier weights. Your muscles will feel sore on the next day so you should take very casual slow workouts for as many days as it takes for the muscle soreness to disappear. Only when your muscles feel fresh should you take your next intense workout.
Be Well.