If you have reached 30 years of age you have already begun losing muscle mass. If you are over 40 you have begun to lose bone mass as well. Scary thought isn't it? It is such a sneaky process…you hardly notice it. But don't lose heart. There is a lot you can do to prolong your athletic career.

How would you like to stop the slide? If you are already seeing the effects of aging it's possible to slow this trend. And in some cases it's even possible to actually reverse losses. There is no question that physical ability declines with age but preliminary studies of older elite athletes have found less deterioration than expected. Much of what was once considered aging in the past is considered functional disuse today. ( Peters, Gregory. : "Conditioning the Aging Female", The Athletic Women). This is good news for the amateur athlete because with proper training one can maintain a high level of physical activity into old age (Harvard Health Letter, March 1997, v22,p4…Maria A Flatarone, Leah R. Barnett).

Some of the age-related changes that are seen in older athletes are non-preventable and irreversible but many can be reversed or prevented.

Here are the two primary age related changes that are irreversible.

Heart rate: Our maximal heart rate is age related. As we get older, our maximal heart rate declines and that decline is irreversible. According to cardiologist Dr. Salvatore Tirrito of Tucson, AZ, the main reason for the lowering of our heart rate is not really known. But there are a couple possible factors. The first is the changing of the conductive system of the heart as we get older. Another reason is the down regulation of beta-1 receptors that innervate the heart. Beta-1 receptors are sensitive to catecholamine stimulation (epinephrine and nor-epinephrine also known as adrenaline and nor-adrenaline), as in the fight or flight syndrome.

If you could remove your heart and set it on the table you would see that it beats at a different rate than when it is in your body. This is because it is constantly under the influence of two competing systems. The parasympathetic system slows down the heart and the sympathetic system speeds it up. As we get older our hearts become less responsive to the sympathetic nervous system so the parasympathetic system predominates.

Maximal oxygen uptake: Our VO2 Max also decreases as we age. A VO2 test measures the greatest amount of oxygen that can be utilized by the body. It is the single best predictor of aerobic fitness but it declines 8%-10% per year after age 30. The decrease in Max VO2 is not as well studied as maximum heart rate but according to Dr. Salvatore Tirrito it may have to do with the loss of elasticity of the arteries and heart as we get older. This leads to a decrease in stroke volume and an increase in peripheral resistance. An increase in peripheral resistance means a decrease in blood flow to working muscles. A decrease in stroke volume along with a decrease in MHR means decreased cardiac output. CO=SV X HR, thus one's maximum VO2 goes down.

The good news is that there is growing evidence that regular aerobic exercise can delay the normal decline in maximal oxygen uptake and aerobic fitness can actually improve over the years.

Now, let's discuss what you can do to slow down the aging process. Many of the changes we have previously thought to be the result of normal aging, appear to be more the result of a long-standing sedentary lifestyle (Sports Medicine 1999 Oct:28(4): 273--85 Maharam LG, Bauman PA, Kalman D, Skolnik H, Perle SM). The greatest threat to the health of the Masters athlete is not the aging process itself but instead to continuous inactivity. There is less risk in athletic activity than there is in continuous inactivity. In fact, it may be advisable to get a physical examination to see if you are healthy enough to withstand a sedentary lifestyle. The human body was designed to reinforce activity. When there is disuse, a large number of atrophic changes take place. With regular exercise, one may be able to retard aging declines as much as 50%. (Am Journal of Sports Medicine 1989,Mar-Apr; 17(2) 187-196, Menard D, Stanish WD). Masters athletes may be able to increase their athletic performances to a higher level than was once thought.

As we age, our tendons and ligaments become less elastic and are more prone to tear. Connective tissue becomes stiffer and joints become less mobile. Where once our connective tissues were as elastic as rubber bands, as we age they become more like pretzels, easy to snap. With a daily range-of--motion and stretching program however, loss of flexibility can be reduced. Yoga anyone?

Muscle mass declines with age. You may weigh the same at age 50 as you did when you were 25 but unless you have done something to slow down or stop the average 3-5 percent decline in muscle mass per decade after age 25, you will have more fat tissue than lean tissue. As we get older, muscle fibers shrink in size and number. They also become less responsive to signals sent from the central nervous system. Results are impaired response time, impaired coordination and increased muscle fatigue.

As anyone that has stood in front of a full length mirror can testify, body composition changes with age. The extent it changes however depends on many things such as genetics, exercise habits, diet and general health. Increases in body fat may be more closely related to lack of physical activity than to aging itself. There is no reason for athletes to gain weight as they age if they are burning up all the calories they consume. Of course many do gain weight even if they are eating less because they have cut back on the number of hours they exercise. But losing muscle and bone mass is not inevitable.

Pumping Iron The older you get the more important strength training becomes. One of the most crippling effects of aging for athletes is the gradual loss of muscle mass and the accompanying loss of strength that that loss entails.

Studies have shown that athletes that train with weights not only maintain muscle strength well into old age but can even reverse loss. In one study, weight training athletes in their 70's had the same muscle power and strength as sedentary men in their 20's. Endurance activities such as swimming, cycling and running are great for cardiovascular health and reducing body fat but they do very little to prevent muscle and bone loss associated with aging. At the University of Alabama at Birmingham, researchers found that weight training not only improved the strength of elderly non-athletic women but it also improved their walking speed as well (Harvard Health Letter,Mar 1997 v22 p4(2). Even young, fit track athletes have been shown to run faster when they add weight training to their workouts. According to Dr. Anthony Mellilo, Orthopedic Sports Medicine Specialist in Houston, Texas, weight training is one of the most important requirements if the aging athlete wants to continue to remain competitive into his senior years. Weight training is the closest thing there is to the fountain of youth (Harvard Health Letter,Mar 1997 v22 p4(2).

One research study at Washington University in St. Louis compared eight well-trained older athletes, ages 55-72 who consistently placed in the top 10% of their age group in 10K races, with eight runners aged 22-31 whose speeds and training were comparable. The older runners had lower maximum heart rate, lower maximum oxygen uptake and less lean body mass. The older athletes should not have been able to compete at the same level as the younger athletes, but they did.

Microscopic tissue samplings from the younger and older athletes showed that the older athletes had less of an enzyme that is involved in the production of lactic acid. The muscles of the older athletes also had larger slow-twitch fibers perhaps from long years of training. Slow twitch muscle fibers being slow to fatigue, make them well suited to endurance activities. Another study looked at elite runners for comparison. Of course older runners can't expect to compete with elite runners but neither can most young runners. It was interesting to note that the physiological advantages in the muscles of the older athletes were also found in the muscles of the elite athletes. So don't despair if your speed is slowing down. Your endurance is probably getting better. It is not at all unusual these days to see athletes in their 70's, 80's and even 90's competing in marathons, ultra distance triathlons and long distance swim events (Berkeley Wellness letter :Dec. 1991 v8,n3, p2).

Dr. Tirrito and Dr. Mellilo agree that maintaining a healthy body weight is key to athletic longevity. But it's how you get there that's important. A very skinny athlete is not necessarily healthy. And unfortunately, endurance sports do not require that one be in great shape. According to well known nutritionist Nancy Clark, older athletes do not have significantly different nutritional needs than their younger counterparts. Their biggest nutritional concern should be to eat quality calories from nutrient dense foods in order to support top performances, enhance recovery and reduce the risk of disease. As we age we need slightly more protein but not enough to require a separate protein supplement. Just including protein in two meals a day will do the job. Some researchers suggest that we need copious amounts of supplements as we age in order to optimize athletic performance. Dr. Tirrito maintains that for the most part aging athletes don't need more that the RDA of the usual vitamins and minerals.

As we get older, our sense of thirst diminishes. We may need fluids but do not feel thirsty. It's important that you drink enough to urinate every three to four hours. When you sense that you are thirsty, as much as 2% of body water has been lost. With as little as 1% loss, there is a marked reduction in VO2. Senior athletes need to be especially cognizant of good hydration.

Hundreds of thousands of maturing athletes are waging a quiet revolution in the world of sports. At the age when our grandparents were taking to the rocking chairs, today the over 50's are taking to the pools, gyms, high school tracks, hopping on their bikes and entering triathlons and marathons. They are finding that the key to healthy aging is finding a fitness routine that can last a lifetime.

If you think arthritis pain or that old rotator-cuff injury gives you license to retire to the couch, think again. These days doctors recommend exercise for almost everyone. "My older patients who run complain that they have pain in their knees for a few hours after working out," says Dr. William Raasch , an orthopedic surgeon at the Medical College of Wisconsin. "But my other patients who don't run have arthritis pain 24 hours a day".(Newsweek International, Jan 26, 2004 p50). Some studies show that exercise actually reduces pain in arthritis sufferers.

Aging is inevitable but there are some basic rules that can help you remain athletic and competitive well into your golden years. The general consensus of opinion among researchers is four-fold:

First: Practice good nutrition and maintain a healthy body weight

Second: Lift weights to prevent muscle and bone loss

Third: Do stretching exercises regularly to prevent loss of flexibility.

Fourth: Participate in cardiovascular exercise to maintain heart health.

With all this being said, keep in mind that performance improvement in masters athletes requires the same commitment to hard training that is required from younger athletes.

Remember…Age and treachery can defeat youth and enthusiasm!

Bobbie Williams competes in long course triathlons in the 65-69 Age Group.

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