Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 28, 2026
Improving Strength, Power, Muscle Aerobic Capacity, and Glucose Tolerance through Short-term Progressive Strength Training Among Elderly People
Published on: July 5, 2017
The aging of elite male athletes: age-related changes in performance and skeletal muscle structure and function
John A Faulkner1, Carol S Davis, Christopher L Mendias
1Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2200, USA. jafaulk@umich.edu
Objective:
The paper addresses the degree to which the attainment of the status as an elite athlete in different sports ameliorates the known age-related losses in skeletal muscle structure and function.
Design:
The retrospective design, based on comparisons of published data on former elite and masters athletes and data on control subjects, assessed the degree to which the attainment of elite and masters athlete status ameliorated the known age-related changes in skeletal muscle structure and function.
Setting:
Institutional.
Participants:
Elite male athletes.
Interventions:
Participation in selected individual and team sports.
Main Outcome Measurements:
Strength, power, VO2max, and performance.
Results:
For elite athletes in all sports, as for the general population, age-related muscle atrophy begins at about 50 years of age. Despite the loss of muscle mass, elite athletes who maintain an active lifestyle age gracefully with few health problems. Conversely, those who lapse into inactivity regress toward general population norms for fitness, weight control, and health problems. Elite athletes in the dual and team sports have careers that rarely extend into their 30s.
Conclusions:
Lifelong physical activity does not appear to have any impact on the loss in fiber number. The loss of fibers can be buffered to some degree by hypertrophy of fibers that remain. It is surprising that the performance of elite athletes in all sports appears to be impaired before the onset of the fiber loss. Even with major losses in physical capacity and muscle mass, the performance of elite and masters athletes is remarkable.
Related Concept Videos
01:29Bone Disorders
Bone deposition is also affected by the levels of sex hormones like estrogen and testosterone that promote osteoblast activity and bone matrix synthesis. When the level of these hormones decreases due to aging, it causes a reduction in bone deposition. As a result, bone resorption by osteoclasts...
01:19The Effect of Aging on Tissues
01:27Exercise and Muscle Performance
Endurance exercises
Endurance exercises involve running, swimming, or cycling, which require repetitive movements with low force output. When a person engages in endurance exercise, a few noticeable changes occur in their skeletal muscles. For instance, the number of capillaries...
01:09Changes in the Appendicular Skeleton with Age
Initially, the limb buds consist of a core of mesenchyme covered by a layer of ectoderm. The ectoderm at the end of the limb bud thickens to form a narrow crest called the apical ectodermal ridge. This ridge stimulates the underlying...
01:28Menopause
01:26Aging
Cellular Clock Theory
The cellular clock theory posits that the human lifespan is closely tied to the finite capacity of cells to divide, a phenomenon governed by telomeres, which are protective caps at the ends of...