07 / 18
THERE’S NOTHING
LIKE TRYING
SOMETHING NEW
AND SUCKING AT
IT, THEN SUCKING
A LITTLE LESS
EVERY DAY
Emphasise recovery
Elite lifters end their workouts differently
than the rest of us do. Strength coaches talk
about loading and unloading – that is, the
for me r shou ld a lw ay s b e fol lowe d by t he
latter. I now think in those terms.
“Unloading” for non-lifters can mean yoga,
foam-rolling, ice tubbing, running in water
or me d it at i ng. It e ncomp a s s e s b ot h
recovery and range-of-motion work that
prevents the sorts of movement limitations
and compensations that can build up over
time and lead to injuries. I used to consider
happy hour a valid cool-down routine. Now
I’m a fanatic about stretching and self-
massage and have a closet full of straps,
bands, foam rollers and massage balls to
show for it. Committing to this is tough if
your schedule is packed, which could
tempt you to extend your workout and skip
the stretching. That’s a bad trade-off.
Go hard and easy
A percentage of your workouts should be
high intensity, and the balance – say, 80 per
cent – should be performed at very low
intensity. Again, I don’t stick to any formal
program of polarisation, but I try to avoid
what Stellingwerff says is the most
common mistake athletes make: going too
hard on easy days and then not being able
to go as hard as you want the next time out.
Instead, I make my hard workouts both
shorter and more intense than I used to.
Elite older athletes stay competitive by
being more deliberate in their training,
focusing their limited time honing specific
skills, and correcting their fitness
weaknesses. For me, this often means
taking two minutes before I start to write
up a plan on a sticky note. A little
intentionality goes a long way.
Eat for muscle
Much of the nutrition “science” peddled to
athletes is bunk. If you’re eating a healthy
diet – lots of different fruits and vegetables,
proteins and whole grains, not too much
sugar or processed stuff – you’re probably
fine. But if you want to avoid losing muscle
as you age, it’s worth making a couple of
tweaks. I’ve increased the protein in my
d iet a s we l l a s t he nu mb e r of t i me s I
consume it during the day, following the
advice of triathlete and nutrition scientist
Asker Jeukendrup. A side benefit: adding
protein to anything you eat effectively
lowers its glycemic index, says Chris
Jordan, director of exercise physiology for
the Johnson & Johnson Human
Performance Institute. So if I want to have
an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie without
feeling a sugar crash, I’ll put a smear of
almond butter on it. I also try to consume
3-5 milligrams of creatine powder a day,
usually in a smoothie or a glass of milk, just
before or after a workout. It’s had a
noticeable effect on my ability to build and
maintain muscle.Sweat the small stu
For athletes with a history of injury or
physical limitations (that’s all of us,
eventually), the key to optimal fitness is
separating desirable training stresses from
undesirable ones. If you have access to anAlterG anti-gravity treadmill or Kaatsu
bands, great. If you don’t, there are still
ple nt y of w ay s to e mbrace t h i s concept.
I n stead of add i ng we ig ht to a n e xe rc i s e, I’l l
incorporate a balance element, like doing
push-ups with my hands on medicine balls,
or add a second-force vector, like having a
resistance band around my knees during
squats. Focusing on smaller, neglected
muscle groups is not a recipe for getting
huge, but it’s great for developing
functional strength and avoiding injury- higher priorities in the long term.
Learn new skills
Challenging your body in the same ways
day after day for decades is an efficient way
to chew up your body. Challenging it in
different ways is the perfect cure. I marvel
at elite athletes and, like most regular guys,
I envy what they’re able to do. But they
should envy us too. There’s nothing like
trying something new and sucking at it,
and then sucking a little less every day.
Science hasn’t yet made it possible for us to
get younger. This quest – getting fitter,
fa ste r a nd b et te r at wh at we eac h love to do
the most – is the closest thing we have to a
fountain of youth.RUN WITH NO PAIN
This one’s not for
everyone. Nowadays I
see a lot of older runners
in “maximalist” shoes
made by Altra, with
soles as thick as A Game
of Thrones paperback,
and not caring whether
they’re landing on their
heels or toes. But afterwading through the
conflicting research and
talking to biomechanists,
I’m convinced: there
are benefits to forgoing
a little cushioning and
learning to strike the
ground with your midfoot
or forefoot rather than
your heel. Your legsare springs – the stiffer
the spring, the more
efficiently the forces
you put into the ground
return to your body,
propelling you forward.WARNING If you feel
strongly about the
need to change yourfootstrike, find a coach
who can work with you
on it. Recent research
suggests that the most
energy-efficient running
style for most people
is the one that comes
naturally to them. Your
problem may be more
stride than strike, though,and biomechanist
Jay Dicharry readily
concedes this. “The
vast majority of runners
actually overstride,” he
says. By focusing on
shortening your stride,
you may ultimately
change your footstrike
pattern. This leads toless of a “pulling” and
more of a “pushing”
running pattern, resulting
in less stress on (and
potential damage to)
your joints. Slower times
in exchange for less
pound ing on my spine
is a trade-off I’m happy
to make.