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Many people refer to the fountain of youth as the part of an athlete’s life where they are as mentally and physically fit as possible, allowing them to perform at their optimum level. However, some recent studies suggest that we may not understand the complete picture as well as we thought. This article details what age athletes reach peak performance and discusses what the latest findings suggest.
When Do Athletes Reach Their Peak Performance?
There is no specific age at which you can say every athlete will reach the pinnacle of their performance; however, some evidence suggests that for certain sports, they are likely to reach peak performance at an age group. For example, those participating in sports regarded as being high-impact, such as sprinting and football, will reach their peak performance around the age of 25. However, for endurance sports such as sailing and marathon running, evidence suggests that those participating in these sports won’t reach their peak level until they are in their forties.
Mental strength is a huge part of the sport and is crucial in allowing athletes to reach their full potential. However, studies show it isn’t until you are around the age of 65 that you reach your peak vocabulary. In addition, peak knowledge and intelligence aren’t reached until the age of 40 to 50 years old. Some athletes have proven that age is just a number for athletic ability; for example, Floyd Mayweather Jr. didn’t retire from boxing until 41 and was still beating the best boxers in the world, finishing his career with 0 losses. This has given Mayweather the title of one of the greatest undefeated boxers of all time, alongside legends such as Joe Calzaghe and Andre Ward. This just shows that some people can compete at the highest level even when they pass the age of what many people consider to be the strongest physically and mentally.
There are clear distinctions between when an athlete reaches peak performance depending on their sport. An athlete who values power and speed in their sport usually performs at a higher level in their 20s than someone who plays the same sport but is in their 40s. However, this is not the case for endurance sports, with those engaging in this type of exercise not reaching their peak performance until they are in their 40s. This is why you see many marathon winners being a lot older on average compared to winners of sprint races.
Why Is There a Distinction Between Sports?
(Source: https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/marathon-running-race-gm612398606-105479851)
The reason that an athlete's age at which they reach their peak performance varies between sports can be attributed to the type of muscles used for different sports. The muscle fibers used in sports with quick acceleration, such as speed skating, gymnastics, and sprinting, are known as fast-twitch muscle fibers. These fast-twitch muscle fibers do not require the same amount of oxygen as other muscle fibers and are used in sports where there is a demand for short bursts of power.
As someone ages, these fast-twitch muscle fibers atrophy, reducing the power an athlete has to accelerate. This is why the average age of top athletes in high-energy sports is much lower than that of competitors at the same level in endurance sports. In endurance sports such as cycling and long-distance running, it isn’t until athletes are considered middle age that they reach their peak performance. This is because these competitors use different muscle fibers during exercise, known as slow-twitch muscle fibers.
Slow-twitch muscle fibers rely hugely on oxygen to continuously contract during long periods of exercise. Unlike fast-twitch muscle fibers, slow-twitch muscle fibers do not atrophy as quickly and can grow if someone continues to train. This is why it is not unusual to see many cyclists that finish on the podium in the Tour de France to be over 30. The same can be said for marathon runners like Mo Farah, who won gold at the Olympics in his 30s. Experts have said that the muscles of someone are more primed for running a marathon at the age of 35 compared to 25. For low-impact sports such as horseback riding and sailing, those participating in these kinds of sports don’t hit their peak performance until the age of 50.
There is no specific age at which athletes reach their peak performance; it depends greatly on the type of sport in which the individual participates. For high-impact sports, athletes reach their peak performance much younger than those participating in endurance and low-impact sports. Of course, there are some exceptions to the rules that can still compete at the highest level well after they are meant to have passed their prime.
