# Retaining fitness level w/age



## Bail_Monkey (May 8, 2007)

I'll speculate that retaining your cardio and stamina fitness with age drops rather quickly the older we get. (At least that is my experience) If I do not ride/jog at least 3 times per week, I struggle pretty bad as far as suffering up the climbs.

I'm not in bad shape either, I'll be 54 in June, 5'10" and ~161 lbs. I'm typically either mtb'ing, road biking and try to hit a 3 mile jog usually once a week. (Light weights and stretching once to twice a week as well)

I find that if I only get 2 rides in 7 days, the next 'larger' ride I suffer pretty bad (on climbs). Yesterday I road the mtb, 21 miles with 3.4k of climbing. It was either an off day or my cardio/stamina declines quite fast if I am not active within 3-4 days. (It was raining in the bay area last week, so I just rode once, hiked and jogged 3 miles) 

I'm not sure if muscle loss is an issue, especially over a few days...(calf/quads)

I'd like to hear some feedback from others that are >50...


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## hikerdave (Mar 8, 2006)

I'm 58 years old and just checked a ride on Garmin Connect from 8 years ago. Maximum heart rate 177 on that ride. Lately my maximum heart rate has been 166. So from age 50 to 58 I've lost 11 beats per minute in heart rate, or ability to pump oxygen. I know that at age 40 my maximum HR was over 190.

So yes, I've noticed a really big decline which has made me ride a lot slower these days. Strength declines are less -- I'm still able to power over the same obstacles -- provided that I stop and suck a little wind first.


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## Bail_Monkey (May 8, 2007)

My heart rate follows the typical 220 minus your age. In 2012 when I got a garmin and HRM, it was around 170, now it is just over 165 for max HR.

Went for a ride today and felt much better, not much fatigue from yesterday. Felt better on the climbs and some were 15% for short distances. To keep my level of fitness, I'll need to cycle at least 3x per week, probably alternating days. (Hard to do with a full time job!)


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## Crankout (Jun 16, 2010)

You can still retain a high level of fitness with targeted training.


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## jeffscott (May 10, 2006)

Bail_Monkey said:


> If I do not ride/jog at least 3 times per week, I struggle pretty bad as far as suffering up the climbs.
> 
> I'm not in bad shape either, I'll be 54 in June, 5'10" and ~161 lbs. I'm typically either mtb'ing, road biking and try to hit a 3 mile jog usually once a week.
> 
> ...


I find that the cardio has to be at least 5 days a week....not necessarily the same thing.

If you are trying to improve your fitness rather than hold the line....it needs to be hard at least every three days.

At least 1 or 2 day rest days per week are required.

Stretching and strength training is needed to prevent muscle imbalances, which occur much faster with age because unused muscles decline so much faster.


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## lkfoster (Apr 2, 2004)

Bail_Monkey said:


> My heart rate follows the typical 220 minus your age. In 2012 when I got a garmin and HRM, it was around 170, now it is just over 165 for max HR.
> 
> Went for a ride today and felt much better, not much fatigue from yesterday. Felt better on the climbs and some were 15% for short distances. To keep my level of fitness, I'll need to cycle at least 3x per week, probably alternating days. (Hard to do with a full time job!)


The formula is a rough guideline. I'm 61.5 and my MS Band Heath splits show 173-178 bpm, a bit higher than the 159 that the formula shows. Probably due to the atrial fibrillation issue that I have though. My cardiologist doesn't seem too concerned, but then again he thinks that it's a sampling error which it could be.


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## Bail_Monkey (May 8, 2007)

jeffscott said:


> I find that the cardio has to be at least 5 days a week....not necessarily the same thing.


5 days a week is a lot for >50 IMO. Add the wear and tear on the body and it is hard to keep it up. (Unless one has no joint or other issues) One of my knees feels sore from time to time, so I do not want to abuse it. I do go close to max HR at least once a week, either uphill or on a sprint. (Mtb/RB)

With my schedule, I can fit in about 3-4 days a week. With summer coming up and more sunlight, I'll probably drop the post work jog and do a short ride instead. Although jogging supports cycling, I feel that you need to cycle to get the most cardio, leg strength and stamina benefits.


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## Lone Rager (Dec 13, 2013)

Check out the book, "Cycling Past 50" and/or "Fast after 50" by Joe Friel. His written many well respected non-geriatric training books too.


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## miatagal96 (Jul 5, 2005)

Ditto on "Fast after 50". Great book!

Five times a week is not too much - I'm 55 and usually ride 6 days per week. The key is the right kind of riding and adequate recovery. One of those days is zone 1 - VERY easy. Most of my time is endurance-paced. I have some high intensity, but it is a very small percentage of the time.


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## Crankout (Jun 16, 2010)

Lone Rager said:


> Check out the book, "Cycling Past 50" and/or "Fast after 50" by Joe Friel. His written many well respected non-geriatric training books too.


Yep; just finished it recently. Friel emphasizes the necessity of high intensity workouts over the old slow and steady stuff that many of us were raised on. I also like his emphasis on strength training.


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## jeffscott (May 10, 2006)

Bail_Monkey said:


> 5 days a week is a lot for >50 IMO. Add the wear and tear on the body and it is hard to keep it up. (Unless one has no joint or other issues) One of my knees feels sore from time to time, so I do not want to abuse it. I do go close to max HR at least once a week, either uphill or on a sprint. (Mtb/RB)
> 
> With my schedule, I can fit in about 3-4 days a week. With summer coming up and more sunlight, I'll probably drop the post work jog and do a short ride instead. Although jogging supports cycling, I feel that you need to cycle to get the most cardio, leg strength and stamina benefits.


This is will lead to problems....

I have lots of issues knees, back, neck arthritis etc.

It is all about adapting to your issues, and still getting everything working.

Long story as short as I can.

Life long skier, knees started to hurt so I went more from the downhill to the XC....hiking/scrambling was starting to hurt a bit

then started riding (plus 5 times a week).

Cardio came around and so did the knees, (no running gonna work out for me).

Started getting muscle imbalances, got one knee fixed up great, did the rehab, but XC skiing still caused issues....biking and rowing became the cardio....

Talking with a knee replacement guy, and we decided that I should wait, and quite a while before knee replacement on the bad side.

So I took up Apline touring rather than XC skiing, viola the knee pain is gone because of the extra support around the ankle...

If skiing eventually hurts I can still go back to skating, or many other things.

Still getting an easy 5 times a week cardio, plus a good hard push once a week...

Again adapt top your situation but don't let issues cause you to step back from the challenge...

Hint give up running jogging, If you knees hurt biking get a fitting, then get a physio to help you out. Rowing is very easy on the knees.


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## Crankout (Jun 16, 2010)

jeffscott said:


> If you are trying to improve your fitness rather than hold the line....it needs to be hard at least every three days.
> 
> At least 1 or 2 day rest days per week are required.
> .


By hard, are you talking about varying levels of intensity? I'd say that 2x a week is optimal if the workout is a HIIT. Anything beyond that will eventually wear one down.


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## Bail_Monkey (May 8, 2007)

Lone Rager said:


> Check out the book, "Cycling Past 50" and/or "Fast after 50" by Joe Friel. His written many well respected non-geriatric training books too.


I've seen that book advertised in Competitor magazine, looked interesting. May give it a read... I've never raced but have thought about it from time to time. When I'm on a long climb, I think to myself that I'm not cut out for racing...(Age group too!) I see some pretty quick >50 year olds on a gps tracking site. I can practically count on one hand the amount of times I've gotten my VAM over 1000. (Road bike)


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## Bail_Monkey (May 8, 2007)

jeffscott said:


> This is will lead to problems....
> 
> I have lots of issues knees, back, neck arthritis etc.
> 
> ...


We have a rower at my companies gym, been on it once and it is quite a work out. I've skied on and off since 1979, never developed any knee issues. But I wasn't an avid skier, most days that I've gotten in one season was around 18... I started snowboarding in the mid 90's and I prefer that over skiing as it is easier on the body and knees IMO. I've even done both in one day, pretty fun.

My knee issues came up trying to go hard up long climbs on the road bike, that is with lower cadence as no one ever mentioned to me that is the way to climb to prevent knee issues. (I was mashing everything and my first RB was an aluminum rig that was 21lbs) My current RB is 16.5. I spin up pretty much everything now, on the RB I try to keep my cadence over 80.

And as for jogging, I do some of it on a track with a rubberized surface. When on the multi use trail, I'll jog on the dirt. I also run 'pose' style or mid foot strike which is much easier on the knees. No heel striking for me...


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