Right from the word go in Mid Life Athlete podcast we’ve tackled perhaps one of the biggest issues for ageing athletes - the inevitable decline of muscles (S1E3). We’ve all felt it, some more than others. The decline continues over the years until we struggle to bend over to tie our shoelaces or even get out of a chair. Lots of the athletes we’ve interviewed have all spoken about how exercise in mid life has taken on a different meaning. Performance and competition are no longer the sole focus, with longevity becoming a key influencer on why and what we do. It’s this latter category of ‘what we do’ where strength training becomes inescapable. 

I’m no stranger to lifting weights. I started weight training when I was a teenager and can still recall the heady days of working out with mates in the ‘pain gym’. I continued into my twenties whilst playing rugby but then when I finished playing and drifted back into endurance sports weight training slowly faded away. There was no need; I was an endurance machine. I started dabbling again over recent years but limited mainly to strength work on my legs and nothing consistent. That all changed with recording these podcasts. 

I have enjoyed all the interviews we’ve done and there’s always something to learn or thoughts to ponder, but just occasionally one rocks your foundations. Greg experienced exactly this when we chatted to Stephen Seilor (S1E14). I had it coming and the earthquake hit when we chatted to Wayne Grimditch and Dan Hutchinson.

Wayne Grimditch has achieved legendary status. He was regarded as a child prodigy in waterskiing and went on to compete for the US at the 1972 Summer Olympics (although waterskiing was a demonstration sport). He achieved 4 world records for ski jumping and 16 US National titles. I think he still holds the world record for the longest ski jump by jumping 180 feet in the air in 1972. Not content with breaking records in waterskiing Wayne went on to compete in the US version of Superstars which he won in 1978 and came fourth in the world Superstars competition. 

After a good few years Wayne started his own fitness company and was getting approached by mid and later life people asking for his help in getting them in shape to allow them to continue playing sports they loved or even take up new sports to enjoy with their grandkids. This is where Wayne teamed up with exercise physiologist Dan Hutchinson of University of Colorado. Dan teaches undergraduate sports physiology students but teaching young students exercise training is entirely different when applied to us mid life students. Both of them worked collaboratively to figure out what was needed for those in later life and what worked. Over many years they’ve honed a sort of blueprint for strength training for mid and later life athletes. 

So what did I learn? There are 2 key factors namely mobility and power and these 2 factors are inextricably linked and they both decline very slowly as we age. Dan and Wayne realised that it was important to work on both mobility, power and strength and so a lot of their training exercises involve movement and weights. Depending on the age and condition of the person Wayne will very often start with an emphasis on movement without any weights and then gradually blend in weights as the person progresses and the exercises vary. What this looks like is a form of plyometrics. 

Why is this important?

According to Harvard Medical School, our age related muscle loss (it’s called sarcopenia) occurs at a rate of 1-2% a year and after age 60 it can accelerate to 3% a year. So those of us who don’t do regular strength training can expect to lose approximately 1.8kg - 2.7kg of muscle per decade. That’s an astonishing number. Worse we’re likely to be replacing that muscle with fat. We’re losing power, getting slower and getting weaker. Weak muscles hinder your ability to cope with and recover from an illness or injury. Disability is estimated to be 1.5 to 4.6 times higher in older people with moderate to severe sarcopenia than in those with normal muscle mass. Weak muscles also make it harder to balance properly when moving or even standing still—and loss of power compounds the problem.

The disuse of muscles play a much bigger role in ageing than I had previously thought. I suspect I’m not alone. Dan and Wayne’s work have shown that strength training focusing on mobility and power can help reverse the effects of sarcopenia and restore muscle function. That’s what hit home to me when we chatted to them and that’s why a day or so after I was ordering kettlebells on Amazon and doing burpees in my basement!

Enjoy listening to the podcast. 

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