older guys and fitness/sports ability?

compboyo

compboyo

compboyo

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At what age do you see a declin ein your sports playing ability?

If you play 5-a-a side football can you still play 30s 40s 50s etc..?

MOst pros retire 30-35...but what about for casual play

I rely on enthuisastic OTT speed and dribbling skills so that is something that can decline easier than say passing vision and passing skills.

Seeing a 40 year old running abut liek Neymar would look silly
 
I don't see any reason why you can't be 40 or older and still do sports.

Look at Ryan Giggs, he's no spring chicken yet it still playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world

I would say that over 25 or maybe 30 is where opyou see a decline on some abilitys, F1 drivers may have a longer reaction time for example, but then again the extra experience may offset this
 
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Everything i've heard on the topic says that you stop being physically active when you want to stop being physically active. Although there is cause for debate about the word 'want'...

Obviously it's different for professional sports.
 
Apparently your physiological changes (whatever that is, I read it somewhere) happen at 35. So if you keep yourself in good shape up until then there is no reason to be worse than someone younger, then I guess you can string yourself along a little while longer afterwards.

I play a five a side game with older and even retired guys right up to 65. One is dreadfully slow but still strong at times. The other, well he used to play professional football, but he is still one of the best players and fast and good dribbler, even better than some of the young lads. Although gets injured a lot now.
 
davestar_delux said:
I play a five a side game with older and even retired guys right up to 65. One is dreadfully slow but still strong at times. The other, well he used to play professional football, but he is still one of the best players and fast and good dribbler, even better than some of the young lads. Although gets injured a lot now.
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well thats good to know I guess.
 
Foster swam in 2008 at aged 37/8 or something. Most swimmers tend to peak at about 26. Hence why Phelps is retiring after 2012 (strong rumours).

Dara Torres is still competing as a swimmer - She was 41 in Beijing, will be 44/45 in London (if she gets through trials).

These are exceptions though.

Although saying that Ian Thorpes coming back for next year and he'll be in his early thirties.

I must say though to be fair, swimming is certainly a lower impact sport than something like football/less likely to cause injury.

But Goalkeepers tend to play for much longer as well

kd
 
Genetics, money, and boredom play a big part.

Get in fresh meat, cheap to pay, easy to let go after a few years, depending on record.
 
I started declining at around 24, but thats because I stopped exercising a couple of years prior to that and started eating all the pies / pizzas / chocolates ....

Mmmmmm.... but me so tubby around the waist now :(
 
I play Sunday League football (11-a-side), not a great level, but it's certainly competitive. We have a centre half who is very nearly 60. Sure, he really can't sprint, but his positioning is still fantastic and he leads the back 4. I reckon this is probably his last season, but it is possible :)
 
I used to work with a cyclist in his 60s. Some of us tried against him as a tag team on bikes set up on kit to simulate flat road use, for training. Same bikes, same setup. It was a total farce. He was pacing himself for a moderate 3-hour ride and none of us could keep with him for any amount of time at all. Even going one after the other, we were done in long before what he'd consider an introduction to a warm-up, and he was miles ahead of us anyway. He does 10 mile road time trials in under 25 minutes, even though his main strength is hillclimbing and not normal road racing.

Sure, he's less strong and fit than he was 45 years ago. But not by all that much and he's still stronger and much fitter than most people of any age. He's not the fastest man his age in his club, either.

If you maintain fitness, you can slow the decline in your sporting ability a lot.
 
My dad still plays cricket at 69 and still runs around chasing the ball harder than most in the team. His reactions are a lot slower, and he has struggled this year a bit, but he will continue playing until he feels he is not comptetive anymore.
 
I've played football, casually, every tuesday night for over 6 years (except holidays and xmas which is the only time we stop). I don't watch football, there are far more enjoyable things to be doing than watching it, but I don't mind playing it, it's a good run around.

So, I was 26 when I started playing, the oldest guy was around 45. He still played regularly, every Tuesday, with us. Now, he's 52 and has had to massively back off after picking up a small ankle injury at the beginning of the year. In fact, since Jan, he's played around 8 times.

My fitness hasn't got worse in that time, if anything, the opposite. Was has taken longer is my ability to get over injuries quickly.

Similarlry, I know a 49 year old who ran the Mont Blanc Ultramarathon race this year and whooped most of the "kids" (as he calls them" half his age

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-Trail_du_Mont-Blanc

Basically, you run non stop with the more fit runners completing in 30 odd hours. He recalled almost walking down a hill near the start of the race as other, younger, lads ran past him, blissfully unaware that running down hill causes serious microtears in your leg muscles which then inflame and will result in an inability to walk, let alone run, across 166km. He then just strolled past them on the next up hill. He came 67 in position (out of 2500 runners) after 32:01:51 running, at 49 years of age.
 
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Orcish-Horde said:
Once the joints start playing up then its all down hill, so around your mid 30s depending on wear.
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Laughable.

To play recreational sport the only thing that stops you is your own desire I play regularly with guys in the 40's and 50's who keep themselves in good shape and are more than competetive.

Professional sport is a different thing altogether as you need to be incredibly fit just as a starting point in most recreational sport being modestly fit puts you ahead of the curve these days.
 
Orcish-Horde said:
Once the joints start playing up then its all down hill, so around your mid 30s depending on wear.
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True.

I'm 32, used to be decent at basketball and did athletics to a fairly decent level - triple jump, long jump and high jump.

Trouble is these sports have wrecked my knees to the point where I can't really do anything much anymore which is frustrating as I hate being inactive.. :(
 
Dino Zoff captained the World cup winning team for Italy in 1982 aged 40.

Yes he was a keeper but still.

George Foreman won a version of the heavyweight boxing title at 46.

Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini and many other Italian defenders played well into their late 30s.

Roger Milla played for Cameroon in the World Cup aged at least 42, (his age has always been disputed, many claim he was 46).

Randy Couture was still fighting for UFC championships at 42.


The idea that older men can't compete and thrive in professional sports simply is not true.



.
 
I'm 31 still fitter than all the 20 year olds on my football team. Have noticed a drop off slightly in my fitness this year but thats down to a bad car crash around 12 months ago which is still giving me back pain but when the pain is not there i'm still able to do what i did 10 years ago.
 
I took up running when I was 31. I'm not as physically strong as I was in my mid-to-late 20's but at 33 I'm fitter now than I have ever been. I am only getting fitter and stronger and many of my "joint problems" have gone away, notably my bad knee, as a result of the exercise. I can't see that trend reversing for some time and I'm planning to stay fit as long as I physically can.
 
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