Masters athletes are some of the most competitive and mentally tough athletes I know. However, trying to inflict training and competition on an ‘older’ body can come at a price.

Your maximum potential is not the same as it was and your body does take longer to recover. If you are interested in remaining physically active and competitive through your older years, consider how a Sport Scientist can assist you through the following principles:

• Specificity – analyse the demands of the event and train to meet those demands.
• Progressive Overload – understand the association between manipulating duration, frequency and intensity of training.
• Train with Intensity – this is the key to success in sport.
• Recover faster – as we age the body takes longer to recover and specific strategies assist with recovery.
• Flexibility – essential, as flexibility decreases with age and poor flexibility decreases your body’s ability to maintain posture and limits joint motion increasing the risk for low-back pain, joint pain, and injury during everyday activities.
• Strength Training – the older we get the more important strength training becomes to prevent muscles atrophying over time and to maintain bone mineral density.
• Train Consistently and implement the Hard-Easy principle.
• Warm up and Cool down – it is true! Warming up and cooling down properly helps prevent injury and enhance performance.
• Periodise your training with intermittent periods of rest, recovery, volume and intensity.
• Listen to your body and for signs of tiredness and fatigue.

If you are a Masters Athlete interested in remaining physically active and competitive through your older years, I can help you understand the needs of your body and how to be proactive with its recovery.