I wanted to do a follow up to my earlier post about aging athlete syndrome. Ernestine’s story teaches us that growing older in and of itself is not an excuse to give up and stop training in the sports that you enjoy. However, it is good reason to train smarter and differently.
Joe Friel writes that aging athletes have an “increased tendencies for acid-base imbalance, reduced sensitivity to thirst, perhaps a greater propensity for weight gain, lost soft tissue elasticity accompanied by an increased likelihood of injury, reduced enzyme activity, less tolerance for heat, and more. It isn’t pretty.”
He goes on to tell what we can and should be doing in his blog here:
Q & A: Recovery and the Aging Athlete
And in case you need more inspiration, here’s a list of 9 aging athletes that will put you to shame.