OLDER ATHLETES AND WEIGHT TRAINING, By Marcel Gray
The muscle mass of athletes changes in four stages
1. Muscle size peaks between 16 – 19 years for females and 18 – 24 years for males.
2. Between 25 and 50 years there is a 5 – 10% decline in muscle size.
3. Between 50 and 65 – 70 years there is another 15% decline.
4. After 65 – 70 years there is an accelerated loss of a further 25%.
As we get older we lose the muscle mass so crucial for sports performance. There are two major reasons why:
- Decreased muscle fibre size, particularly in the power - producing fast twitch muscle fibres.
- Decreased muscle fibre number, especially the power – producing fast twitch fibres ( at age 30, about 60% of muscle fibres are fast twitch; at age 80 it’s about 30%.)
Both of these decreases lead to a 50% loss of muscle mass between the ages of 20 and 90. Sprint or power training can help slow the decline in muscle mass.
In general the following table can be used to develop muscle mass, strength and power in master athletes.
| PHASE | LOAD | REPS | SETS | RECOVERY |
| General adaptation( 4 – 6 weeks) | 40 – 60% | 12 – 15 | 2 – 3 | 2 – 3 min |
| Hypertrophy( 4 – 6 weeks) | 70 – 85% | 8 – 12 | 2 – 3 | 2 – 3 min |
| Strength | 60 – 100% | 8 – 12 | 2 – 3 | 3 – 5 min |
| Power | 30 – 60% | 3 – 6 | 2 – 6 | 2 – 3 min |
Conclusion
Weight training that focuses on building muscle mass is crucial for master athletes. The off season and pre – season should be used to develop muscle mass and strength. During the pre – competition and competition phases of training, the increased muscle mass and strength should be converted to power through a combination of specific sports training and exercise designed by professional strength and conditioning specialists.
Marcel Gray – Sprinter, Great Britain Masters
Marcel competed for Great Britain as a master’s athlete and represented Great Britain at the 2010 European Masters Athletics Championships in Hungary and the World Masters Athletics Championships in Sacramento, USA in 2011.
Marcel is also the Welsh Masters double 2011 indoor sprint champion in the M45 age category, The Welsh Masters 2011 Outdoor double sprint champion for the M45 age category and was number one over the 100m in Wales in 2011– across all the masters age groups which are 30 years old and upwards.He now competes for Jamaica Masters
Between coaching junior international athletes and managing a youth football team, Marcel also owns and operates ‘ATP Athletic Training and Performance Centre’, a centre specialising in advanced speed and strength conditioning, performance and sports management.
