Bodies change as they age and deal with adversity. For former players who have been retired for several seasons, it is important to understand the new challenges that can accompany an active lifestyle and the importance of incorporating movement into your daily life.
- The older you are, the more important it is to train.
An untrained body tends to reach its physical peak in its early twenties. At 40, muscles shrink and fat accumulates. Strength and power decline rapidly. Starting at 50, the untrained body will lose 10 percent or more of its muscle mass per decade. - Hard work doesn’t mean overdoing it every time you train.
You want to stimulate your body during training, of course, but let’s not overdo it—and always consider the role of recovery, which becomes more important in middle age. Too much work with too little recovery will bring down anyone, at any level. Remember to include some recovery techniques with your workout. - Decline is inevitable.
Strength and power decline with age, though some people do not reach their physiological peak until middle age. - How fast you decline is up to you.
People tend to blame genes in the aging process. And genes have a great deal to do, for instance, with balding and getting gray hair at an early age. Such factors impact the appearance of age, but not how well your body actually is aging. Your workout routine and lifestyle choices can make you as much as two decades younger at the cellular level. - If an activity hurts, stop doing it.
Sounds simple, but how many times do you keep up an activity or workout even though there’s pain? Sports or workout-related pain seldom is quick, sharp, and obvious. If you have a pain or a nagging injury, seek medical attention before continuing your training.