If you're approaching forty years old, the aging process is probably affecting you, just like lot's of other athletes your age....with it's aches and pains and stiffness. You really can't stop this process through physical activity and training, however, you can seem to slow it down. You can compensate for it by trying to maintain your present fitness level. As our bodies change, we experience a number of physiological changes. These changes include the following:
- reduced aerobic capacity
- weakened bones...through bone loss or osteoporosis
- diminished muscular strength and endurance
- decreased sense of balance
- slowed reaction times
- increased body fat
What we've found at ASAP: Athletic Strength And Power is that many of the aformentioned physiological changes are sometimes more a factor of inactivity than of aging per se. In other words, use it or lose it!! So, the aging athlete just needs to stick to it....gut it out and keep striving!
Some of examples of athletes who have extended their careers beyond 40 years old are Morton Anderson, Karl Malone and Cal Ripken. Interestly, Bill Collins holds the world record for Master's Athletes. He's 55 and ran an 11.5 100m dash last summer. Or Alfred Guidet's 200m record of 23.6 which he did at the age of 55 also. How about the 70 year old Bobby Whilden, who just last year ran a 12.7 100m dash!!! If it interests you, check out the amazing records of the USATF Masters' records.
But maybe the most intriguing story to me is the one of Hulda Crooks, a California "Grandma" who achieved some very amazing feats. After the death of her husband, Hulda Crooks, age 60, took up hiking and mountain climbing. By the age of 66, she had climbed Mt Whitney, the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states. At 72, she climbed it twice in two weeks...just to have the opportunity to show some teenagers. When she was 91, she climbed Mt Fuji, Japan's highest peak. And to think that she didn't start this until she was 60 years old. it's no wonder that the California Department of Parks named a southern peak of Mt Whitney: Crooks Peak after all, she climbed to the top 23 times. Now that's taking it to the next level. 
All Rights Reserved Copyright 2006 www.athleticstrengthandpower.com post written by Ed Cicale
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