So I’m approaching 40 and have always been active in a sport in some way since childhood. I’ve always been a better than average athlete – could dunk in basketball but I’m only 5’10” and could run a 50m in under 5.5sec – and while I was never going to be a professional in any sport I was always competing at high levels.
Recently though I’ve started to feel like my age is now starting to cut into my abilities, I’m finding that my legs aren’t reacting to the things I believe they should be able to. Even when I put time and work in at the gym, the results on the court or the playing field are no longer evident to me.
Being that I still enjoy the competition of sports it’s hard to feel my body suddenly not being able to compete at a level that is even just a rec league.
19 comments
About 38
Late 30s. I often recommend cycling to men in this sub. It’s easy on the joints and great for your heart. I know plenty of men in their 50s and 60s who can outride guys half their age.
Basically my (M46) strength, endurance, physique and for quite a bit even flexibility are pretty much what they were 20 years ago (the time since I started doing weights). Recently I noticed not so much problems on these fronts, but more in the sense that certain joints start to hurt and that I better don’t do things exactly the same way as I did.
not sure about sportsman, but i’m a volunteer firefighter. mid 40s seems to have been a turning point.
Golf. The sport of competitive old men.
I started running at 34 and my peak was about 38. I’m now 51 and still running similar times.
I do yoga and cycle to work.
My diet is excellent and I think that’s the real key. If you want to age quicker, eat the wrong things. I don’t do that now because I get depression from the wrong diet, anyway. So it’s a win-win by eating right.
The only thing I’ve noticed so far is an injury in both arms from barbell curls. It’s taking ages to heal.
Other than that it’s all good.
Ok ok explain me this, David Goggins?
Mid 30s. Used to laugh at a mate when we were 30 as he had bad knees so couldn’t do certain sports. Then all of a sudden my knee started feeling weird and hurting. Sucks.
Late 30’s, but the decline in performance hasn’t been that drastic. It just takes A LOT longer to recover from hard/long efforts. Cycling, mountain biking, triathlon and motocross have replaced team sports with quick movements as my knees/ankles can’t handle it anymore.
Around 44 i noticed a definite shift in my ability to build muscle
I had a couple injuries in my late 20s and early 30s. Very difficult to completely recover from. I’m 36 now and in fairly good shape, but distance running is tough for me. Things hurt now that didn’t before, and it just takes longer to recover 🙁
Not a man, but I train for various sports with men in their 40s through 70s. The ones I’ve seen who have peaked are the ones who have done the same or similar sports their whole life so of course they can’t match what they did in their 20s. The ones still improving are the ones trying new sports or who got active later in life because they never had a chance to max out in one particular way. For the most part, endurance will stay the same while speed and strength will decline and recovery takes longer.
If you enjoy competition there are many sports in which you compete only with others in a 5 or 10 year age band of the same gender, and in happy coincidence, a lot of them are endurance-based.
Around mid 30s. Realized I really needed to stretch and warmup before any activity.
34
Late 30s for me.
It wasn’t necessarily the drop in athleticism, it was the accumulation of injuries over the years and my slowing/disappearing recovery that forced me to stop active athletics and pursue less intensive activities.
After a hiatus, pulled a calf muscle jump roping during the warm up at my muay thai gym.
Never stop stretching.
I’ve been lifting and training like a 20 yr old for the last 22 years. Daily CrossFit, mountain walks, running, lifting weights, what ever I wanted to do was no issue, had a 6 pack and 50 in pulse. I had my 41st birthday and it was like a switch. My knee pain is so bad I can’t do a body weight squat. I feel my back is one false move away from slipping a disc. Inflammation in my shoulder, everything clicks . Feel like I’m on a rollercoaster downhill only. And mentally not being able to “have a good blow out” each days is crippling.
Among NBA scouts, the general rule is that an athlete peaks somewhere in their mid to late twenties.
I have a standing reach of 8’5″, and at sixty mumble years old, I can’t even touch the rim any more.
I’ve always been into working out: started hiking on my own (5 miles, three times a week) when I was around 13, lifting around 16 and boxing shortly after, p90x and insanity workouts in my late 20s. I suffered several injuries because of the boxing – fractured rib, whiplash, damaged wrist and knuckles, but I always recovered quickly and it was never too debilitating. I stopped boxing around 13 years ago. I am 38 now, and it seems like the years of abuse are finally catching up. I tore a lower back muscle about 3 months ago and although I feel better, I am nothing like what I was in my 20s. The recovery process has been slow and discouraging. I find myself hesitant when doing physical work, and I also modified my works to mitigate impact, because I can still feel slight pain in that region of my back. The slow recovery is a sure sign that it’s time too slow down and be smart.