ENDURANCE ATHLETES AND THE OTHER SIDE OF 30
Let’s not deny that we’re all going to get old at some point, and your ability to ‘bounce back’ from hard training and racing will one day not be the same it used to be! Many ‘older’ athletes then to turn a blind eye and expect their bodies to train and perform like they just turned 20…
You won’t be blindsided, and it happens over time - but it’s what you do about it that really matters.
DON’T TURN A BLIND EYE
As you get older, you generally have a lot more on your plate and your priorities change; from career, mortgage and bills to cars, kids and marriage. Strength, mobility and balance are all variables we lose with age.
Someone whose body has been conditioned to training and racing for the last 25 years will respond very differently to someone who has decided to do a one-off iron-distance race to celebrate their 40th birthday. But it is not to say that the first of these two won’t need to also take conscious action - even the most conditioned 40 year old will also start to notice niggles cropping up that you can no longer brush off.
You may find yourself having a ‘hang in there’ mentality and putting up with issues to enable you to squeeze in as many races as possible, whilst taking less and less time to recover. If you find yourself shying away from intensity, and noticing to the signs that your body isn’t what it used to be, then incorporating the right type of training will keep you doing the sport you love for longer.
“Am I doing everything I can to build a resilient body, to give it the ability to cope with my training load as my body gets older?”
Intensity is such a broad term, and can be interpreted in many ways depending on the situation. The intensity we speak of, regardless of age, is that of applying a load that forces physiological change within the body.. and it’s NOT just for elite athletes! Ignoring these loaded strength workouts will effectively encourage the loss of muscle mass, bone density and tissue strength.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
The fact is, from a physiological standpoint, from around the age of 30 everything begins to slow down. Your hormonal function and cellular pathways slow down, and you become less efficient and generally more sluggish. Hormonal levels are important, as they determine our ability to handle exercise as a form of good stress, and adequately recover from it. Whilst recovery is a vital aspect of any effective training program, regardless of your age, in someone over the age of 30 this importance grows even more.
The physiological changes and implications that are most likely to happen are:
Decrease in muscle mass
Increased risk of Osteopenia and Osteoporosis
Increased likelihood of weight gain
Reduced soft tissue elasticity, increasing like the likelihood or injury
Reduced enzyme activity
Less tolerance for heat
Lower levels of testosterone
The stronger and more powerful you are, the more it helps in regards to balance and body awareness. Strength training gives you the ability to ‘feel’ those muscles switch on more than ever and with the help of a trained eye, this can be achieved.
HOW CAN STRENGTH TRAINING HELP?
By implementing strength work into our training, we obviously aren’t going to stop the inevitable - but if we continue to demand our bodies to swim, bike, run or perform however we do, the least we can do is help to prevent injury and get the best out of our performance. We know that the thought of strength training conjures up images of huge weights and intimidating gym environments, but we’ve got the programming that will give you support throughout your training.
Here’s an example of one of our Mobility Routines that we encourage people to do at least 2-3 times a week. Give it a go!
TISSUE AND BONE HEALTH
By strengthening the muscles, tendons and ligaments that surround your hips, knees, ankles and shoulders etc, we can minimise any associated stress on the joint and avoid possible imbalances. Resistance training improves bone density so the combination of stronger bones, connective tissue and muscles results in a more durable body, giving you the ability to withstand the demands of endurance training.
MOBILITY
Optimal range of motion will allow us to walk, run and move efficiently, however this movement needs to be controlled by strong, healthy ligaments and tendons alongside activated muscles. For example, making sure our ankles are strong enough to stabilise us when running on uneven terrain (the common cause of an ankle sprain).
BALANCE
Body awareness and balance are also other variables that we lose with age. The stronger and more powerful you are, the more it helps in regards to balance and co-ordination. Strength training gives you the ability ‘feel’ those muscles switch on more than ever.
HOW CAN I APPLY THIS TO MY TRAINING?
Utilizing a strength training program, either at home or in the gym twice a week, with a focus on developing and maintaining your strength to key areas such as legs, glutes, back and core will go a long way to making you more injury resistant.
This can be done as simply as including a variety of squat, lunge and activation exercise into your programming. You don’t necessarily need to be doing max rep efforts but you do need to be building up the strength away from your swim, bike or run disciplines.
Each session shouldn’t take you any longer than 45 minutes, including warm up and cool down. Try incorporating this training into your existing program on your ‘easier effort’ days to avoid overtraining.
If you’d like to see how we can help incorporate this into your training, get in touch today!
BOSS, G.R AND SEEGMILLER, J.E. 1981. ‘Age-Related Physiological Changes and Their Clinical Significance’, IN West J Med, 135(6): 434-440
TANAKA, H AND SEALS, D.R. 2008. ‘Endurance exercise performance in Masters athletes: age associated changes and underlying physiological mechanisms’, IN J Physio; 586(1): 55-63