At What Age Will My Cycling Decline?

[Pretorim]

Serious Question:

We all know how Floyd Landis got in trouble with too high testosterone levels. Testosterone is  cyclists friend. Is it possible to increase levels NATURALLY with more or less sex?

[Tumbleweed]

I was much faster when I was 17 and I had a heavy steel bike back then :-( all the carbon in the world isn't helping me.And no' date=' it has NOTHING to do with the beer. OK?

 

[/quote']

 

 

 

and you can't grow a tache...

[jagwil]

Age has nothing to do with it. It is the downhills that will make your cycling decline.

[porky]

Serious Question:

We all know how Floyd Landis got in trouble with too high testosterone levels. Testosterone is  cyclists friend. Is it possible to increase levels NATURALLY with more or less sex?

 

HaHaHa, - isnt love great.?

 

Dont know, but you could conduct your own test - just make sure you DO actually go ride sometime.!

[Guest colonel]

Perhaps the most widely known and significant changes that occur with aging are those that affect the muscle, and happen in part because the levels of hormones like testosterone and growth hormone fall over the years. Testosterone is the one everyone knows about because dopers use it so often, and as any body-builder will tell you, is anabolic (as opposed to catabolic), because it builds up tissues in response to stress, and is responsible for muscle growth and development after training.

 

Testosterone levels peak during adolescence and early adulthood, but somewhere between 30 and 40 years of age, begin to decline progressively. As a result, lean muscle mass declines by as much as 30% between 25 (when peak muscle mass occurs) and 70 years of age. This reduction involves decreases in the total number of muscle fibers and a decrease in the size of the fibers. At the same time, oxidative damage causes further reductions in muscle mass, as does a decline in the number of motor neurons that provide neural ?nourishment? to the muscle fibers.

 

The net effect of the reduction in muscle mass is a loss of muscle strength ? as much as 2% per year, so that by the age of 70, strength is reduced by up to 40%, though this depends on the individual and also their activity levels. Training helps prevent these reductions, which is good news, and is the part of the equation that you can control.

 

One of the more obvious, and upsetting consequences of this change is that your metabolic rate slows down, and so you start to gain weight (fat mass, that is). The common misperception that "muscle turns into fat" is actually the storage of fat that is partly caused by a loss of muscle thanks to aging. It's not that muscle is converted to fat, but rather that fat now tends to be deposited much more easily. If you don't adjust your diet, "middle age spread" is the result!

 

[jagwil]

If you don't adjust your diet, "middle age spread" is the result!

 

This is the distressing part.

[NotSoBigBen]

Some hubbers should worry more about 'brain cell' deterioration than losing muscle / vo2max ....

[Guest Big H]

Perhaps the most widely known and significant changes that occur with aging are those that affect the muscle' date=' and happen in part because the levels of hormones like testosterone and growth hormone fall over the years. Testosterone is the one everyone knows about because dopers use it so often, and as any body-builder will tell you, is anabolic (as opposed to catabolic), because it builds up tissues in response to stress, and is responsible for muscle growth and development after training.

Testosterone levels peak during adolescence and early adulthood, but somewhere between 30 and 40 years of age, begin to decline progressively. As a result, lean muscle mass declines by as much as 30% between 25 (when peak muscle mass occurs) and 70 years of age. This reduction involves decreases in the total number of muscle fibers and a decrease in the size of the fibers. At the same time, oxidative damage causes further reductions in muscle mass, as does a decline in the number of motor neurons that provide neural ?nourishment? to the muscle fibers.

The net effect of the reduction in muscle mass is a loss of muscle strength ? as much as 2% per year, so that by the age of 70, strength is reduced by up to 40%, though this depends on the individual and also their activity levels. Training helps prevent these reductions, which is good news, and is the part of the equation that you can control.

One of the more obvious, and upsetting consequences of this change is that your metabolic rate slows down, and so you start to gain weight (fat mass, that is). The common misperception that "muscle turns into fat" is actually the storage of fat that is partly caused by a loss of muscle thanks to aging. It's not that muscle is converted to fat, but rather that fat now tends to be deposited much more easily. If you don't adjust your diet, "middle age spread" is the result!
[/quote']

 

I had the unfortunate occurrence a few years back where I had stafillococcus infection in my right knee. It was also in conjunction with severe artritis and was hospitalised for a month and it took three months of severely painfull recovery, walking with crutches and a walking stick. The muscles in my right leg started to atrophy. Even though I went to a gym as well as a long period of physio, my left leg, muscle wise is still smaller than the right leg. It does not really normally bother me but on the longer rides and strenuous exercise I really start feeling the effect. Try as I may I just cannot get the muscles here back to what they was before. This must be surely due to age?

[Guest colonel]

Yes it is due to age but the funny thing is I have a similar problem on my right leg, mainly my calve muscle. I crashed in 2001 and broke my tib and fib in 9 places and they wanted to amputate it below the knee but instead put it together like a "kebab". To this day and no matter how much rehab I did the muscle is considerably smaller than the left leg and a tad bit shorter but one of the more frustrating aspects of aging is that your ability to recover from training is reduced. Lance mentioned this on a site sometime before he was to partake in the Giro and that he was scared he wasnt going to recover as quick as his rivals.

 

 

 

Pretty much all "moving parts" don't quite recover from sessions the day before, and your body?s ability to adapt to the stress of training is also reduced. You can no longer repair damage by laying down stronger muscle fibers in response to training. One of the big benefits of taking testosterone is that it aids recovery, allowing harder training. Aging is effectively "reverse doping", since testosterone is reduced, and training can't be done to the same level as before. One of the first things people will notice is that they wake up stiff and commonly jokingly say "I must be getting old". Exactly!

 

 

 

Other hormonal changes further contribute to this adaptation barrier ? the production of growth hormone decreases steadily from the age of 10, just after puberty, which has much the same effect as the fall in testosterone, as well as some other effects on metabolism.

 

 

 

There is also a decrease in the number of capillaries to each muscle fiber, which means that valuable energy and oxygen delivery to muscles is compromised. Stroke volume (the amount pumped per contraction) and heart rate also fall over time, meaning less blood can be pumped to the body as cardiac output falls. Respiratory muscles get weaker, and the resistance in the airways rises, which makes breathing harder work. The ability to get valuable oxygen out of the air into the blood and to the muscles is reduced, not a great outcome for a marathon runners! It doesn't take a degree in exercise physiology to appreciate how these changes in the heart and lungs would make running or any other endurance activity much more difficult.

 

 

 

Inside the muscle, proteins that are important to assist with metabolism are not produced in the same quantities ? you therefore become less effective at producing ATP to power muscle contraction. The muscle?s capacity to store and release energy changes with age ? less glucose and glycogen can be stored, and the muscle becomes less sensitive to hormones that normally drive metabolism, like adrenaline.

 

 

 

Basically the older you get the more you are like a battery running flat and not being able to recharge!!colonel2009-05-24 01:36:12

[Yang]

Who saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

 

At least while us older okes take a little longer to recover, we've at least gotten smarter and wiser over the years- experience counts when you're racing.

 

Yeah- well- I suppose then the diminishing returns kick in.

[Guest Big H]

Yes it is due to age but the funny thing is I have a similar problem on my right leg' date=' mainly my calve muscle. I crashed in 2001 and broke my tib and fib in 9 places and they wanted to amputate it below the knee but instead put it together like a "kebab". To this day and no matter how much rehab I did the muscle is considerably smaller than the left leg and a tad bit shorter but one of the more frustrating aspects of aging is that your ability to recover from training is reduced. Lance mentioned this on a site sometime before he was to partake in the Giro and that he was scared he wasnt going to recover as quick as his rivals.

Pretty much all "moving parts" don't quite recover from sessions the day before, and your body?s ability to adapt to the stress of training is also reduced. You can no longer repair damage by laying down stronger muscle fibers in response to training. One of the big benefits of taking testosterone is that it aids recovery, allowing harder training. Aging is effectively "reverse doping", since testosterone is reduced, and training can't be done to the same level as before. One of the first things people will notice is that they wake up stiff and commonly jokingly say "I must be getting old". Exactly!

Other hormonal changes further contribute to this adaptation barrier ? the production of growth hormone decreases steadily from the age of 10, just after puberty, which has much the same effect as the fall in testosterone, as well as some other effects on metabolism.

There is also a decrease in the number of capillaries to each muscle fiber, which means that valuable energy and oxygen delivery to muscles is compromised. Stroke volume (the amount pumped per contraction) and heart rate also fall over time, meaning less blood can be pumped to the body as cardiac output falls. Respiratory muscles get weaker, and the resistance in the airways rises, which makes breathing harder work. The ability to get valuable oxygen out of the air into the blood and to the muscles is reduced, not a great outcome for a marathon runners! It doesn't take a degree in exercise physiology to appreciate how these changes in the heart and lungs would make running or any other endurance activity much more difficult.

Inside the muscle, proteins that are important to assist with metabolism are not produced in the same quantities ? you therefore become less effective at producing ATP to power muscle contraction. The muscle?s capacity to store and release energy changes with age ? less glucose and glycogen can be stored, and the muscle becomes less sensitive to hormones that normally drive metabolism, like adrenaline.

Basically the older you get the more you are like a battery running flat and not being able to recharge!![/quote']

 

Yikes ...... now I am worried, you using the old battery example .......... I am swollen up already..... I hope I do not explode and catch fire like an old LiPo (Lithium Polymer) battery

[jagwil]

BigH, you and Yang are still both "youngsters".   You shouldn't have a problem yet!  jagwil2009-05-24 03:37:06

[Guest Big H]

BigH' date=' you and Yang are still both "youngsters".   You shouldn't have a problem yet!  [/quote']

 

My miles may not be high, but they were all done on gravel roads!!!!!! Besides try doing what we (Em and I on the Tandem) do by strapping a 25kg bag of mieliemeel to your front (read that as boep!!!!)