ABSTRACT
Most training experiments have a duration of 3 months or less, and old people have rarely been asked to take additional exercise for longer than a year. Such periods of conditioning are unfortunately too brief to determine whether the added activity has modified the rate of aging. Moreover, the timing and duration of activity militate against the correction of such geriatric problems as obesity and atherosclerosis. Prevention by a lifetime of activity plainly has a greater chance of success than secondary treatment through a penitent outpouring of energy at retirement. Elderly athletes thus offer a possible model of aging in individuals who have been extremely active for long periods. However, there are certain limitations inherent in this approach:
The athlete is an atypical individual, selected on the basis of outlying anthropometric and physiological characteristics such as extreme height or a maximum oxygen intake much larger than that of the general population of similar age.
A nominal athlete may not persist with sport from adolescence through to old age. Montoye et al (1957) found that immediately on leaving university, athletic ‘letter’ holders were more active than their contemporaries, but after the age of 45 years the ‘athletes’ were actually less active than their former classmates. At this stage, cigarette smoking and significant alcohol consumption were also more likely in the ex-athletes than in their ‘sedentary’ counterparts. The exercise behaviour of cross-country ski competitors seems rather more consistent, at least in Scandinavia, where the majority of contestants remain active to an advanced age (Karvonen, 1959). Nevertheless, the intensity of activity undoubtedly diminishes with increasing years, even in the Scandinavian cross-country skiers, so that the effects of senescence are compounded by a progressive reduction of physical conditioning.
Some athletes (including many of those involved in Masters’ competitions) commence their sports participation in middle age rather than in adolescence. Although the contests are still quite rigorous, both selection and preparation is less exhaustive than would be anticipated at a younger age. In consequence, many participants fall far short of world record performances for their age and event (Table 6.1). Performance of male contestants examined during World Masters' Track competitions in Toronto, 1975. Data expressed as a percentage of the current world record speed for a given age category and distance (after <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref878">Kavanagh</xref> and Shephard, 1977b)
| Age (years) | Sprint events | Middle distance events | Long distance events |
|---|---|---|---|
| < 40 | 88.8 ± 5.1 | – | 86.1 ± 10.3 |
| 40-50 | 86.4 ± 5.7 | 88.3 ± 7.2 | 82.8 ± 8.1 |
| 50-60 | 88.2 ± 4.6 | 87.3 ± 6.6 | 82.9 ± 10.0 |
| 60-70 | 76.6 ± 3.9 | 73.1 ± 7.1 | 81.1 ± 6.7 |
| 70-90 | 63.8 ± 3.1 | – | – |
