You and I both know that exercise and training doesn’t get any easier as we get older, but if you’re ‘feeling’ your age, have increasingly annoying niggles or contemplating packing in a sport/activity you love and enjoy, then you need to read this.

Did you know, 71-year-old American Gene Dykes set an unofficial world record in the 70 to 74-year-old age group in the 2018 Jacksonville marathon, running 2:54.23, at 6:39 minutes per mile… WOW!

While this accomplishment obviously represents the very upper end of the performance curve, this and similar achievements provide evidence of the potential to maintain high physiological performance beyond your sixth decade.

High levels of physical performance can be a realistic goal for people 50 years and older who are not competitive yet want to maintain as much strength and endurance as possible, an attitude shared by many in the boomer age group.

Most trainers and coaches don’t have any of the world’s best masters athletes as clients. However, we can use these athletes’ successes as clues when developing exercise programmes for older adults we serve. To make their programmes effective, we must generalise what we know about training a relatively young, healthy clientele and judiciously apply this knowledge to our older clients.

Here then are four ways to remain athletic as you age.

#1 – Prepare Better

Go on admit it…you can’t be bothered to warm-up, right? I get it, sometimes I feel the same too but after realising the huge difference between warming up properly vs nothing (or very badly) I’ll always make time for it…and you should too!

Don’t fall into the trap of skipping the warmup!

#2 – Do More Mobility Work

Without a doubt, the most common reason you’ll feel unathletic is that you simply can’t get into the positions and/or postures you want when you exercise. It’s much easier to do a little work to preserve mobility than it is to lose it and have to work to get it back. Some foam rolling and five minutes of mobility work per day goes a long way in keeping you athletic.

#3 – Work on Stability

I bet you’re thinking about wobble boards, BOSU balls or balance discs? I’ll tell you now that you won’t need them – sounds counter-intuitive I know, but trust me on this one. Here’s the thing, as humans we spend most of our time on a stable surface, right? So we have to train on a stable surface to improve stability – there’s a massive adaptation difference between the two modes of training (too many to explain in this blog).

BOSUs, wobble boards etc have a prominent place in the world of rehabilitation, but a very minor place in performance conditioning and, thus, stability. So, if you haven’t tried ‘stable surface’ stability training then you’re missing out on heaps of adaptations that’ll rocket your athleticism to a place you never thought possible.

Need some inspiration? Try these:

#4 –  Master Single-Leg Exercises

Believe it or not, one of the most common reasons people loose their athleticism is they’re useless at single leg exercises. I know why you avoid them too. Yes, they’re difficult but don’t be put off trying because you don’t want to look stupid in front of your mates or that person you’ve been hitting on for the last month. I guarantee if you throw in some lunge twists, Bulgarian split squats and hops in 4 weeks you’ll feel like auditioning for Cirque du Soleil.

So there you have it, 4 of the best ways to stay athletic as you age. Don’t fall into the trap of ignoring your ability to function as a human – it’s too easy to avoid exercises that challenge us but these are the very exercises that will ensure we keep our athleticism whatever age we are.

Look for blog posts to follow ranging in topics from general fitness, strength training and CrossFit to knee problems,
reasons why people are in pain and why I don't recommend over-stretching the hip flexors.

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