Age related decline

[hjs]

Ofcourse there are impressive older athletes, and like you say, they do have good genetics, but beyond a certain age you are not gonna win the olympics anymore.

Nobody is saying they will.
This said, the trend of decline that is often reported isn't as bad as people think (or as reflective as it is shown in the studies) as athletes are training differently and with more structure. Historical data is often based on datasets that were taken from the 1960's, 70's or 80's and hell of a lot has changed since then. Provided you're staying away from sports that require explosive power (sprinting) or are high impact (i.e. running), I don't think people have as much to worry about until they're at least 55 provided they try and aim for training consistency and mitigate for the obvious markers of decline (VO2 max and muscle mass being two main ones). A grip on reality, as you say, is important but it is all too easy to talk yourself into submission and I'd rather people focused on the former than just blindly accepting the latter voluntarily.

You are talking to a 53 year old. And always been high in the rankings. I still beat most 20 year somethings on the erg. But compared to my own 20 year someyhing I ofcourse am a much lesser man.
And I do like the most powerfull the most and goes through the drain first. You also never see older people do that anymore. We simply can,t.

For me the most difficult thing about doing sports after the age related top of the hill is not training to get lifetime pb s anymore. Ofcourse you can work around that and find things you haven,t done properly yet. So you still can

But its a contradiction, sports training is aimed at improving a certain age, you will decline, nomatter what.

[uk gearmuncher]

1) For me the most difficult thing about doing sports after the age related top of the hill is not training to get lifetime pb s anymore.
2) Of course you can work around that and find things you haven,t done properly yet. So you still can
3) But its a contradiction, sports training is aimed at improving a certain age, you will decline, nomatter what.

1) Something that my fellow cycling contemporary (Gaaammo on here) and I are all to familiar with sadly. With cycling we were able to hide our decline by compensating technologically for it via aerodynamics and better equipment. Like him, I've enjoyed my best years in my early-mid 40's but in reality I would have had a better potential ceiling 15 years ago (if I'd started training endurance at a younger age).

2) I've made a sporting career out of that concept. It's been said anecdotally, any athlete can enjoy 6 years worth of improvement when they start a new sport. Just keep changing is my advice

3) Age grouping has removed that disappointment for me in this respect. Once you accept you can't outrun Darwin but can still get a race somewhere against like-classified people, I don't get down about it anymore. I'm sure you're disappointing a few 20 year olds though.....

[Parky]

I've stopped trying to catch up or keep up with all the youngsters coming into the 70 - 79 age group.

I'm rowing to help extend my life, not end it. No more falling off the seat at the end of a workout.

[Cyclingman1]

Earlier in this thread there was some talk about a 70+ HWt who was posting excellent rowing times that were substantially better than those of just a few months ago. Several commentators doubted the veracity of those times.

Well, I now report that the person has deleted all of his postings from the C2 Logbook. I know nothing about this. Maybe C2 did it. Maybe the guy felt guilt. Good to see it from my perspective.
Jim G

[ukaserex]

I think there's entirely too many variables at play to give an adequate reply.

Rowing is easy. Rowing properly, with intentional purpose, is a different animal.

Sleep, nutrition are probably two of the largest factors that impact my performance. If I have granola the day before a tough row - I literally feel sluggish the next day and it shows in my numbers after the row. Now - that could be in my head, but I don't think so.

I like to row 2x a day. But, I've learned if my 2nd session begins after 4pm, it impacts my sleep negatively. I go to bed at 9:30-10pm but wake up at 2am wide awake ready to start the day - but knowing I still need another 3-5 hours. I suspect it's my body needing more liquids, I dunno. But, if I don't row in the afternoon, or get the row done before 4pm, I sleep just fine. But that's me.

Your case ...well, who knows? They say we can expect age related decline - but what causes that? More stress/responsibility at work? Possible.
Sarcopenia? (the age-related decline of muscle mass, likely due to drop in testosterone levels) Also possible.

Whatever it may be...I suggest you try to ensure you're eating properly, and having at least a day a week of resistance training to keep the muscles in use so they don't atrophy. Other than that..anybody's guess.

Maybe a training partner to be sure you're actually pushing yourself?

[Gabe_G]

Sleep, nutrition are probably two of the largest factors that impact my performance. If I have granola the day before a tough row - I literally feel sluggish the next day and it shows in my numbers after the row. Now - that could be in my head, but I don't think so.

I fully agree - that is, that sleep and nutrition are the largest factors in performance. That seems to be most true in my experience, as well.

If I have granola the day before a tough row - I literally feel sluggish the next day and it shows in my numbers after the row. Now - that could be in my head, but I don't think so.

This confuses me, I mean, I don't quite understand if you are saying that the granola is hindering your performance, or helping it? Can you clarify what you mean? I am just curious.

[ukaserex]

It could be that the Granola has a negative impact on my performance, or it could be the 2% chocolate milk I have with it. I'm inclined to think it's the granola, because I recently introduced it into my diet due to a sale, and curiosity. Had never had granola. It's got a decent nutrition profile, but it's got a lot of calories. Once the next bag is gone, I don't think I'll get it again.

[Boomer]

It could be that the Granola has a negative impact on my performance, or it could be the 2% chocolate milk I have with it. I'm inclined to think it's the granola, because I recently introduced it into my diet due to a sale, and curiosity. Had never had granola. It's got a decent nutrition profile, but it's got a lot of calories. Once the next bag is gone, I don't think I'll get it again.

This is amazing I also find I’m a bit crap after eating granola for breakfast! So I went back to bran flakes. I put it down to the high GI sugars holding it all together. Cutting sugar out in theory will mean your body body is more efficient in getting energy from more complex carbs in longer >15Min rows. Granola doesn’t effect me if I’m doing short distances. Beer also has the same effect the night before.

Agree with the other posters on here that PED are probably not that present in old guy rowing, the main benefit of PED for longer distances 2K up would come from drugs that can enhance VO2max like EPO/CERA etc hard to detect You would need to be really serious about old bloke rowing to do this because of the dangers of getting it wrong.

As I get older my 2k’s are A bit slower But my 5k,10k,30 mins are about the same.

[rufiedog]

Folks, I'm no scientist. The only evidence I can offer is stuff I've heard/read.

Sarcopenia - as we age, we lose muscle mass. Particularly men notice this, because we tend to have more to lose. It's more noticeable.

Sleep/recovery - as we age, so do our children! And as they age, they make all kinds of stupid decisions despite our advice. Small wonder many of us don't get the sleep we need! That's just one reason - but work, politics, all manner of things can put a damper on our sleep/recovery.

Nutrition - Presumably, as we age, while our mortgages remain the same, our salaries increase. This results in more "disposable" income - and sometimes that extra is put into nights out, rather than having more control over what we eat. Or more scotch. Whatever it may be, if nutrition isn't on track, our performance won't be either.

There's likely a longer list of factors that can go into a performance decline. But, I just want to add this:

Our bodies can adapt to whatever we put them through. None of us need to fret over our 2k row time. If we only get 6:53 or 7:53, it doesn't matter unless we were going to get paid for our results. All we can do is enjoy the time we get to row. We don't have to row - we GET to row. Find a way to make it fun and/or interesting, and that really should be enough to stave off the days when we need help getting out of a chair.

But -if you're like me and you like to be competitive, we must remind ourselves that we win competitions by what we're doing when we're not rowing more so than what we do on the rower. Don't kid yourself into thinking that 30 to 80 minutes on the rower is enough. We need to eat right and sleep as much as our schedule permits. And we need to try and stay off the couch when we're not at work, and not rowing. The body is designed for movement.

Best post i have seen in a while. In particular your reference to what you're doing while not rowing. I have a friend that won light weight worlds in Long Beach a couple years ago (50-55) after rowing for only about 6 months. He is active on weekends (hiking, biking) but a veterinarian as a profession, thus on his feet constantly. Does a lot of stuff in the field with cows. Seems busy all the time. Guessing not an easy job. I credit his vocation activity a good part of his success