
Exercise Makes Our Muscles Work Better with Age - oscarwao
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/03/30/exercise-makes-our-muscles-work-better-with-age/
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algorias
> Of course, this type of single-snapshot-in-time study can’t tell us whether
> the athletes’ training actually changed their muscle health over the years
> or if the athletes were somehow blessed from birth with better muscles,
> allowing them to become superb masters athletes.

I really appreciate this kind of honesty. It's rare that a popular article
explicitly points out possible confounders.

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mindcrime
I sure hope so! I'm 42 now, and I just came back in from a bike ride - only my
second since a 5 month layoff caused by a combination of weather, travel and
shoulder surgery - and I'm beat. And gawd was I slllooooowwwww out there
tonight. Uuuggghhh.

But hey, I know it will come back with time, and - more to the point - I know
how important it is to stay active. After the whole heart-attack thing back in
2014, I'm pretty committed to staying active from here on out. Keeping my
heart healthy is priority #1, anything else is just gravy at this point.

~~~
jjrp
Holy cow, heart attack at 40? Can you elaborate on how that happened?

~~~
mindcrime
_Holy cow, heart attack at 40? Can you elaborate on how that happened?_

I mean, they never really know exactly what causes any particular heart
attack. But there are definitely specific risk factors I can single out, and
beyond that, I can speculate.

For starters, I was a bit overweight, and I am diabetic. Those are both risk
factors. But on the flip side, my diabetes is well controlled, and while
overweight, I wasn't exactly the stereotypical 400 lb slob that you look at
and go "how is that guy still alive?" But while I was pretty active at times
during my life (on an "on again, off again" basis), I was one of those people
who eats a shitty diet and imagines that he can make up for it by working out
more. So even though I wasn't huge outwardly, I'm pretty sure the crap diet,
over a period of many years, played a role.

But beyond that, I was working crazy hard on this startup, and doing really
nutty shit like working 100+ hours a week (between the day job and the
startup), not getting enough sleep, and consuming simply ridiculous amounts of
caffeine. I'd go to Barnes & Noble or Starbucks to work on the startup after
getting off work at my other job, and sit there and drink a triple-shot latte,
chase that with a Red Bull, and eat a box or two of chocolate covered espresso
beans... 4 or 5 times a week.

I've also had some minor, but annoying, knee issues since I was a teenager and
I've used a lot of ibuprofen over the years, including taking more than the
recommended amount and definitely taking it longer than you're supposed to.
Well, guess what? In the last couple of years they've found that sustained use
of ibuprofen increases your risk of heart attack.

All in all, my personal hunch is that the main things that contributed to it
where: 1. my diet, 2. stress, 3. weight, 4. excessive ibuprofen

~~~
IndianAstronaut
Jesus. That sounds like the path I am headed down. Overweight, workaholic,
ibuprofen taker.

~~~
noir_lord
It was me as well, 7 months ago I weighed 245, ate a shocking diet and
subsisted on energy drinks and coffee.

Last year I got diagnosed with a serious spinal condition and resolved to fix
as much as I could.

I now weigh 182lbs, lost 12 inches of my waist, don't drink any energy drinks
and my coffee addiction is down to <4 a day.

I work out for 30-45 minutes everyday without fail mostly bodyweight and
callisthenic exercises with swimming a couple of times a week.

Blood pressure is normal, resting heart rate dropped by 10 back to 70.

The pain from the spine condition has halfed as have the meds I take to stay
functional.

It's been a hard journey 1500 cal a day for 6 months was brutal but I'm now at
maintenance weight and the time would have passed anyway.

My advice: if it bothers you, fix it!

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rsync
It's my understanding from my reading of pop-science books (specifically, Nick
Lanes) that mitochondria can be selected for _within your own body_.

As you age, mutations naturally produce slightly broken mitochondria who do a
slightly worse job at making energy. However, if you are exercising
vigorously, those poorly functioning mitochondria will die off (apoptosis) and
you will maintain a (relatively) "fitter" population of mitochondria inside
your muscles, as those are the ones that are left to reproduce.

If you don't ever exercise, you'll probably feel fine (all else being equal)
but secretly, you're cultivating a weak population of mitochondria within your
own muscle cells. At some point the weakness of that population will become
apparent.

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zeroxfe
"Of course, this type of single-snapshot-in-time study can’t tell us whether
the athletes’ training actually changed their muscle health over the years or
if the athletes were somehow blessed from birth with better muscles, allowing
them to become superb masters athletes."

I really wish they hadn't used world class athletes, who almost always have
major genetic advantages.

~~~
bryanrasmussen
yes, and maybe if they hadn't used world class athletes they could have had
more than 29 of them.

I mean if they had 10000 exceptionally fit people for their age, that might
start to mean something.

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takno
Given that they had to get them into a lab and use specialised equipment on
them I'd guess the low number of participants was more due to budget than
experiment design

~~~
bryanrasmussen
probably, but the result is the same.

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civilian
I thought this was taken for granted but I'm glad it's been confirmed and we
understand the neural process behind it.

It's a good motivation for working out. I often think: "I'm squatting 180lbs
now, so that I can sit down onto and stand up from a toilet when I'm 80."

~~~
hyperchase
I'm squatting 500 pounds now, so I can squat 350 when I'm 80 :P

~~~
ellyagg
Here's a 70 year old deadlifting 683:

[https://www.facebook.com/tommy.mason.9237/videos/10207393442...](https://www.facebook.com/tommy.mason.9237/videos/10207393442227388/)

~~~
hyperchase
Looking good for me then!

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sndean
From the paper:

"World champion master athletes in their 9th decade of life had a greater
number of surviving motor units, reduced collateral reinnervation, better
neuromuscular transmission stability and a greater amount of excitable muscle
mass as compared with age-matched controls."

and

"The Masters Athletes (MA) consisted of track and field athletes ranked in the
top 4 of their respective events at the world masters championships..."

I'm not sure how surprised I'm supposed to be about people who were world-
class athletes some time within the past ~40 years ago having above average
strength.

Though, I understand that you can't easily pull off a randomized controlled
trial (long-term) for exercise.

~~~
Someone
"World masters" championships are for older athletes. For example, in
athletics, we have
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masters_athletics](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masters_athletics):

 _" Masters athletics is a class of the sport of athletics for veteran
athletes in the events of track and field, road running and cross country
running. The competitions feature five-year age groups beginning at age 35.
Men as old as 105 and women in their 100s have competed in running, jumping
and throwing events."_

Winners of these events need not have been world class athletes when they were
young, and often weren't, but they typically have been exercising regularly
more than other people.

But yes, it is not that surprising that people who _are_ world-class athletes
_in their age group_ score differently in some metrics than people who are
not. Question is: in what metrics? This study researched that. It's not just
that they have more muscles, the muscles they have work better, too.

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contingencies
As someone who has recently quit smoking (6 months) and started a daily
regimen of 1.5 hrs of serious cycling (including 45 min up a steep incline) at
2000m (6500ft) altitude at age 34 (2 weeks down; with a couple of breaks for
alternatives like hikes or longer bike trips), this article makes me feel like
I've made the right decision, despite daily aching muscles. I'm using the hope
of joining a group cycle trip across Tibet to Nepal from southwest China[0] in
September as a mental crutch.

[0]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20091026172350/http://www.geocit...](https://web.archive.org/web/20091026172350/http://www.geocities.com/graydonandjoanne/yunnan-
tibet.html)

~~~
mindcrime
_As someone who has recently quit smoking (6 months) and started a daily
regimen of 1.5 hrs of serious cycling (including 45 min up a steep incline) at
2000m (6500ft) altitude at age 34 (2 weeks down; with a couple of breaks for
alternatives like hikes or longer bike trips), this article makes me feel like
I 've made the right decision_

Definitely. Take it from me, the alternative(s) are no fun. I got lazy about
biking and running and everything, let my weight creep up, and was over-
stressing myself way to hard, and ultimately had a heart-attack. Luckily I
lived and the doctors say I should be fine, but they all hammered me on the
importance of staying active and fit from here on out.

Luckily I never smoked, so I have that going for me at least. But yeah,
quitting smoking is definitely a Good Call if you care about your health.

~~~
contingencies
Thanks for the supportive words and I'm glad you're still around to cajole
people in the right direction!

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julian55
This seems fairly obvious but it's good to have it confirmed as I'm 60 now. I
usually cycle about 100 miles a week and I'm glad I'm not wasting my time!

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altotrees
People often ask me if I worry about tearing muscles/sore joints when I run,
ride my bike or lift weights. In college, I kind of worried about those
things, but now sitting in a chair from 8-10 hours a day makes me worry way
more about heart health/blood pressure, etc.

I just kind of hope to offset all of that sedentary time in front of the
monitor, and indeed do hope that all this activity benefits me down the line,
be it muscle elasticity, heart health, lung function, whatever.

~~~
justinhj
Try a standing desk if you can. I find that aside from tired feet I feel a lot
more energetic throughout the day and no longer get and aches in my back that
I used to experience when sitting

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known
Take hot water bath and go for one hour early morning walk;

