Our research with Masters Athletes Birmingham 4 November 2018 - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Jamie McPhee & Hans Degens Birmingham 4 November 2018

Our research with Masters Athletes

Overv rview

I. Key research questions (and answers!) II. Key messages

A systematic approach to le learning about physical performance of f Masters Ath thletes 2002 - 2018

(Ingram, MSSE 32:1623, 2000; McPhee et al., BGEN, 17:567, 2016)

• C. Elegans

People move le less in in old lder age

(Degens & McPhee, Chapter 20 in: Inflammation, Advancing Age and Nutrition, 2013)

Physical fi fitn tness declines with age

Masters ath thletes are more active th than age- matched non-athletes

Accelerometry counts (*gravity. Logarithmic scale) MAC: Master Athlete Cohort. Compared with three different samples of the general population. Hannam et al 2016. Ost Intl Three times more active Twenty times more active Two Hundred times more active

“Fitness” is best measured as the amount of oxygen the body can use per minute (to make energy for moving).

Masters Ath thletes are fi fit t and healthy

(Tanaka & Seals, J Physiol 586:55, 2008) 1896: First modern Olympic games (Athens)

40 400 0 m Han ans De Degens 20 2008 08 EVACS Lju Ljublj ljana sam same as as th that of

• f

th the win inning 85 85-year old

• ld man

an in in 200 2007!!!

Masters Ath thletes perform well

(Tanaka et al., JAP 83:1947, 1997)

Masters Athle letes are fit it and and healthy ‘Rejuvenation’ of VO2max in master athletes

Masters Athle letes have la larger muscle les and lo lower body fat

(Piasecki et al., Physiol Rep 4:E12987, 2016) ES: Early starter master athletes (trained all adult life) LS: Late starter master athletes (trained since age 50) C: Non athlete

(Pearson et al., MSSE 34:1199, 2002)

‘Rejuvenation’ of power in master athletes

5 10 15 20 25 30 Y O MA

Medio-lateral sway (cm)

Masters Ath thletes do not t have better balance th than age-matched non-athletes?

(Leightley et al JAPA 25:345, 2017) * *

Stand on one leg with eyes closed: 27 sec 5 sec 7 sec

(Ireland et al., Osteoporosis Int, 2014; Piasecki et al., Scan J Sport Med, 2018)

Masters Ath thletes have good bones

Tennis arm vs non-tennis arm

2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 YC YA OC OA D LCOadj (mmol·kPa-1·min-1) 1 2 2 (Degens et al., Int J Sport Med, 2013)

Do Masters Ath thletes may have slightly better lu lung fu function

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Age (yrs) Started training in middle-age Total 20 yr training Trained all adult life Total 50 yr training

Does it it matter at t what age a Master Ath thlete started competing?

It It does not matter at t what age a Master Ath thlete started competing

20 40 60 80 100 120 140 50 100 150 Age (years) Function (arbitrary units) Control Master

30%

(Degens, Sport Med Doping Studies, 2012)

At any age masters athletes have better function than non-athletes

The ri risk of f in injury ry during competition is is lo low

(Ganse et al., JMNI, 2014)

Key messages

• Muscle and strength small gain
• Bone strength small gain
• Metabolism and fatness big gains
• Cardiovascular gains (VO2max)
• Performance gains discipline-specific
• Muscle and strength large gain
• Bone strength large gain
• Metabolism and fatness moderate gains
• Cardiovascular gains (VO2max)
• Performance gains discipline-specific

Balance can be improved!

International Collaborators:

• Prof J Rittweger: German Aerospace Institute, Cologne
• Dr MT Korhonen: University of Jyvaskyla, Finland
• Dr B Ganse: University Hospital Aachen, Germany

Colleagues:

• Dr A Ireland: Manchester Metropolitan University
• Dr J Coulson: Manchester Metropolitan University
• Dr M Piasecki: Manchester Metropolitan University

Acknowledgements

Thank you for your attention