If you have been reading my blog for awhile then you know that I am a 40+ year old male.  But, I still enjoy competing in athletic competitions.  It is just hard to turn off some of the competitive fires.  Unfortunately, the competitive fires might be at an all time high, but the body physically isn’t necessarily competing at an all-time high.

This is why professional athletes then retire.  Their body just can’t compete the way they want at a high level anymore.  The young bucks come in with their better athleticism and they ship you right out of the door.

What if you still want to play sports and you are older than 40?  I’m not even talking professionally, but your typical recreational athlete.  I worked with a gentleman who was in his early sixties once who did master track meets.  His running form looked as good as any guy 40 years younger than him.

So let’s talk about what an athlete like this guy needs to do to be able to compete in an athletic event at a level he would be happy about.

If you haven’t been taking care of your body, you need to start.

More athletes are starting to workout and condition themselves at a younger and younger age.  They want to get ahead of their competition and be the best they can be while in their prime.  In the past, what you would usually hear about is the athlete who is either in their prime or just past it starting to workout with weights and keep their bodies in shape.

They realized they couldn’t do some of the things they used to and needed to do this to remain competitive.  Nice to finally wake up and join the party bub.

Well, if you want to do athletic events past 40, I would strongly encourage you to start working out.  The younger athletes lift and condition their bodies so they will be bigger, faster, and stronger.  For an over 40 athlete, those things shift to secondary goals.  Your biggest goal should be injury prevention.

The better shape your body is in, the better it will handle the physical stresses that athletic events put you into.  The older an athlete you are, the more important this is.  It is easier to get hurt when you have not been extremely active for awhile.  It is even easier when your body is starting to age and you are losing little bits of muscle each year.

On the chance that you do get injured, then working out will help you recover quicker from that injury.  You won’t recover as fast as some of your younger counterparts, but you will definitely recover faster than someone your age who hasn’t been working out.

You need to start warming up a little better and taking the time to cool down.

You are older now so warming up doesn’t mean doing a couple side bends and arm swings.  You have to get the body as physically prepared for what you are going to do as you can get it.  This means getting the blood flowing with a light cardio (think light jog, brisk walk, easy jump rope).  Then you do a dynamic warmup (high knees, butt kicks, leg swings).

Depending on the sport you are doing, you then need to start doing some sport specific preparation.  If it is tennis, then maybe doing some rotator work, some movement work, then light hitting of the balls increasing the force gradually.  If it is track, some build-ups, short sprint items gradually increasing the intensity.

Warming up will take a little longer than when you were 20 or 25.  You can’t just get up off the couch and go play at full speed.  But, if you take the time to warm-up properly (emphasis on TIME), then you can play at full speed and be productive.

Afterwards, you need to do some light jogs and finish with some active recovery.  Foam roller work is like a self-massage for the muscles.  It helps to get rid of the lactic acid and prep the muscles for a speedy recovery.  Then a good stretching will work wonders.  Your muscles are warm and loose, this is the best time to stretch.

The third thing is probably the most important item to competing in athletics past the age of 40.  It is so important, I’m going to give it its own post.  So, tune in next time, watch your emails, and I’ll share the third item that will get you to have an optimal performance/injury free athletic endeavor as a 40+ year old.

 Image courtesy MastersTrack.com