It is normally acknowledged that most cardio capability (VO2Max) declines with age at a fee of about 10% per decade in sedentary folks, however that those that proceed to do health coaching will solely lose this capability at about 5% per decade. A typical research upon which this rule of thumb relies is ref. 1. This is likely one of the causes for the maxim “use it or lose it”. It seems to be “really use it so you lose it more slowly”. But it’s essential as a result of the distinction between 5% and 10% is large for high quality of life. Activities of every day residing like having the ability to go up stairs develop into very tough or inconceivable if VO2Max goes under about 20. This can occur by the point you might be about 70 or 80 if sedentary, however could be delayed till greater than 100 years of age should you maintain coaching.
Another essential issue is that it has been proven that cardio capability could be regained considerably over a number of months of coaching in older individuals who have beforehand been sedentary (Ref 2). So should you get to a sure age, and understand you’re slowing down (“Why am I starting to get winded walking over to the mailbox?”), you may readily flip the clock again a number of a long time, fitness-wise, by getting critical about coaching to get in form.
But a 2022 meta-analysis [2] seemed on the information from plenty of earlier research to reexamine this matter. I discovered of this from Alex Hutchinson’s “Sweat Science” in Outside Magazine (there could also be a pay wall on the hyperlink however they normally permit you a number of free peeks at articles). The most essential discovering is that even critical athletes who proceed coaching, have a tendency to cut back their coaching quantity (variety of hours per week) over time. Among those that sustain their quantity, the speed of loss in VO2Max is even smaller, extra like 2.5% per decade. Alex identified that coach Alan Couzens, based mostly on information from his personal athletes, goes additional to counsel {that a} decline in health could also be averted solely if we enhance our coaching quantity as we age. Coach Couzens got here up with the rule of thumb that we have now to coach our age, in hours, every month, to attain this. So if you find yourself 80 you simply have to coach 80 hours per 30 days, or 20 hours per week. This is rather a lot, clearly, and nicely past the 150 minutes (2 1/2 hours) per week of coaching usually beneficial by well being authorities.
But this will truly be possible for a few of us who’re retired and for whom health is our passion. By coincidence, I at the moment do practice for about 2 1/2 hours per day on common, as a result of I get pleasure from it, which precisely meets Couzens’ rule. If I simply bump it up a bit annually, and by the point I’m 80 I do about 3 hours per day, does that imply I’ll lose no health in any respect? I’ll be excited to search out out 10 years from now.
All of this has oversimplified the difficulty by solely contemplating coaching quantity and never depth. Various strategies exist for bettering VO2MAX considerably with decrease quantity and better depth coaching. Probably essentially the most well-known is the Tabata protocol, which takes solely 4 minutes complete however entails 8 rounds of 20 seconds of sprinting with solely 10 seconds of restoration in between. Time-efficient, however very powerful! I might speculate that those that practice with significantly much less quantity, however maintain their depth excessive sufficient, might additionally struggle off the decline in health with age fairly nicely. I’ve additionally seen the alternative impact. There are cyclists within the membership I trip with which have stored their coaching quantity fairly excessive for many years, however their depth has decreased over time (they’ve both gotten slower or are doing fewer climbs). So I think maintaining quantity excessive and persevering with to do some high-intensity work are each essential to stop getting slower.
What about for these of us for which health is not a passion and are usually not significantly excited on the prospect of coaching for hours per day? I might say simply attempt to get the general public well being advice of two 1/2 hours per week of exercise. And throw in some higher-intensity stuff like strolling up stairs or biking up hills a minimum of as soon as per week (different elements of health like resistance coaching and steadiness coaching are additionally essential). Your health might decline some over time, however rather a lot lower than for a sedentary individual, and also you’ll nonetheless be capable to do actions of every day residing at 100. Not a nasty end result.
References
- Rogers, M, et al, “Decline in VO2max with aging in master athletes and sedentary men”, J Appl Physiol, 1990
- Burtscher, J, et al, “The Impact of Training on the Loss of Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Aging Masters Endurance Athletes”, Int J Environ Res Public Health, 2022
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