I’m not arguing here that there might be the case of some people in that age that have some physical impairments restricting their ability to do some of those things, but more often it is the case of a false reality or false expectation. Let´s say you were over 60, and in your younger years you have been somewhat sporty and you could do some things with much less effort than you could do them now, for most of people that would be enough reason to stop doing them thinking that they are now incapable or too old to do that. 

But is it so? Fact is that with the passing of time we start degrading with at a faster pace until one day we die. Another fact is that nobody gets out of life alive, but can actively do something to extend it and to live with a better quality. So, what can we do to slow down aging and live with a better quality of life? I think it´s clear that being generally strong will not hurt anyone, more than that, it will give you independence and freedom of movement, self-confidence and self-reliance, and will bring many other positive aspects in your life. Having more muscle mass can make your late years also much better, as stated earlier we are all degrading, some faster, some slower. 

There is a lot of scientific evidence that muscles if not stimulated to grow, will degrade really fast at a certain age, apparently around 60 there’s a critical stage. If you were not busy in your early years to build more muscle tissue, so now you would have a bigger buffer, it´s not too late, you can build muscle mass at any age with proper training, nutrition and regeneration. 

Does that mean you can train like a youngster? No! But it means, that if you did not train until now, you can actually see progress, or if you are already someone who muscle trained his whole life, you can drastically slow down your degradation. Working on your muscle strength can drastically reduce the chance of getting osteoporosis as well by bringing more nutrients to your bone tissue, and we all know how important it is to have a more durable frame.

Not only the body can benefit from exercising and conducting a healthy lifestyle, but the mind as well. Strength training has been shown to improve cognition, ones ability to focus longer on a given task, fight depression, anxiety, burnout syndrome , reduce chances of dementia, deal better with PTSD.

My advice for people in this more advance chapter of life is, not to stop exercising because they are getting older, but to continue exercising or to pick up strength training to reduce the unwanted side effects of getting older. It is an option, and yes everybody can do it, understand where you are and decide where you want to go, only so you will know what to do to get there.

Grow old, grow strong!!!

I hope i captured your attention on this important topic, if you have questions don´t hesitate to contact me.

Best regards, 

Stefan

What supports such a statement? Well, for an instance track and field is nothing more and nothing less then a collection of disciplines that puts together all the physical qualities required by the majority of sports, running, jumping, throwing. Still why is it that track athletes can run faster, throw farther or jump longer/higher the athletes from other sports. The answer is simple, this is what you are required to do to win your competition. You have to cover a given distance in the quickest time, you have to jump the longest or the highest possible, or you have to throw an object the farthest possible. 

In other sports these qualities are combined with other skills, like dribbling a ball, passing it, jumping to catch, running and catching, jumping/running to kick a moving object, etc. . If you ever tried running 50 meters as fast as you can, and then run the same 50 meters keeping control of a soccer ball, or a handball, most probably you realized that without an additional object you were faster. And if you had equal skills with an opponent in maintaining control over the soccer/handball ball, but you could run faster than them, in a direct confrontation you would defeat them. That’s just a simple example of what track and field can do for you to get better at your own sport.

If in track and field you would have lets say two athletes being able to run, jump, throw equal, but you would increase the maximum and specific strength of one, most probably the stronger athlete will win the direct competition. 

Track and field athletes and coaches have been busy for a very long time with finding the most efficient methods of training for improving these basic physical qualities , long before most of the modern sports appearance, that’s why in our days you will see the majority, if not all other sports having a strength and conditioning coach with deep roots in track and field.

This is not a subjective debate based on each ones sympathy, it is a very objective remark and a reflection of reality, and I consider that track and field can help every athlete become better, of course in addition to being the best at the skills required by their given sport.

I hope i could give you an insight in this topic, if you have any further questions just get in touch with me.

Best regards, 

Stefan