Peak At 50-60 Year Old!

[David Horne]

I have collated and collected strength history for many years as many will know, and I was looking through my old letters files and came across an interesting point by the old-time performing strongman Ronnie Tait (this was in a 1994 letter). He said that he thought his peak of strength came at 50-60 years of age [1966-76], and this was after 28 years of training already!

Hope for all of us

David

[climber511]

David - do you have any more information on him? He's not one I have heard of before - where was he from, how big, some of his feats of strength, how he trained etc?

[The Mac]

Personally, I think it is inuries and/or boredom that prevent many from prgressing as they age, that and failing to tailor their programmes to their changing needs. The strength sports have in any case have never really been a "young man's game", with a few exceptions aside.

[David Horne]

I have lot's of info on him. He is also in David Webster's book 'Sons of Samson'.

I also went to up to Edinburgh to see him, and he was a great host.

David

[oldtimer]

Karl Norberg, at age 73, got his best bench press of 460 with feet off the floor. Witnessed by Ed Lolax and many others. No special suit, no drugs.

[ox3782]

Karl Norberg, at age 73, got his best bench press of 460 with feet off the floor. Witnessed by Ed Lolax and many others. No special suit, no drugs.

Karl Nordberg is awesome!!!

Brendan

[Dave H]

I am 50 this year and have not slowed down. I have not changed the way I train and I still set PR's regularly. I say this not to brag (as some say I do)! I say this because it is true, and I am always trying to promote a strength related life-style for others to follow. We do NOT have to get weak because we are growing older! We should NOT have to change the way we train! We should all be getting stronger into our 60's and 70's. Merle Metter still curls 75 pound DB's and he is 72 this year!

Edited July 27, 2007 by sixgun

[lone Wolf]

This Nov. I'll be 50 I have not slowed either I've change the I trained used to be just

weight lifting now going more grip and contest training only thing that slows me done are

injuries but I'm more carefull now I also do 20 min. of cardio every morning. I feel the

longer you stay in shape the better off you will be in the long run.

[OldGuy]

I peaked at 50, and then everything fell apart. Maybe it will come back again at 60!

[Sybersnott]

I peaked at 50, and then everything fell apart.

Luckily, your sharp wit has remained intact AND has gotten better with age!!!

[Bill Piche]

I have to disagree sixgun. And, look at the medical research on just what happens when someone gets to their 60's. The fact is, males testosterone drops as we age. And, other niceities to deal with. No matter how great a training program, there will be noticable performance drops that are out of our control. When did you start lifting?

According to your theory as you state in your post, no pro/high level athlete should have to retire as they could just keep setting those PR's well into their 50's and 60's.

[egg_uk]

i think you just understand your body more as you get older and know what works better for you, and you dont take as many risks, so you can progress

[MARKR]

Medical research aside, the postive points of this post is that 2 members are stating that they are getting stronger at age 50, there are plenty of examples of people who are still training heavy at 50+ .I know Stan Pike quite well Stans over 50 and has recently lifted the Dinnie stones and plans to lift them again next year age 55, so hitting age 40 or 50 should not be the beginning of the end.

My friend often says he too old now to make gains and hes only 30, this is a very negative attitude which i have encounted with alot of people.

If you train right making Health as important as strength then lifting weights can be done for a lifetime, i often think someone loosing there edge as they age is mainly a mental state rather than a physical one.

[OldGuy]

How old are you MARKR?

[MARKR]

How old are you MARKR?

Im 30

[Bill Piche]

Facts are facts. Let's not throw the excuse of someone being negative.

The fact is testosterone declines with age. There is no way someone is going to beat what they did decade(s) earlier unless they were total boneheads then, started very late in life lifting, or is juicing now versus then or is still juicing. Or, their "PR's" are in a lift they never did before.

Heck, I can say I set records in the Power Clean every workout if I started doing them now (I never did them before). PR's in my middle 40's! WHooo hooo! I think you get the point.

And, no one said anything about having to resign to the couch in old age and waddle in sorrow and not lift anymore. Quite the contrary.

Again, someone point out to me a middle 50's man or 60's man who is competing at a high level in a major sport. I am still waiting. Hey, maybe they'll shoot for that 100 meter world record. Or, the world clean and jerk record. After all, we gots those INFINITE gains as long as we train smart.

Heck, I am setting my goal right now for the World PL championship when I hit 80 years old according to the theories stated here in this thread.

[OldGuy]

How old are you MARKR?

Im 30

So you are only qualified to talk about what it is like to be 30. You have no idea what it is like to be 40, 50 and so on.

[MARKR]

So you are only qualified to talk about what it is like to be 30. You have no idea what it is like to be 40, 50 and so on.

I never said I knew what it was like to be 40 or 50 at any point in the previous post, how could I being only 30.My opinion was to point to others in a higher age bracket that i know who still lift heavy ,such as the example given of my friend Stan Pike and others I have known/trained with at age 50+ such as my other friend Harry Kearns who got me into weightlifting , Harry was 62 with 18" arms ,very strong and looking many years younger a testament to proper weight training.

At age 30 i look upto people like Stan/Harry as a source of inspiration in enabling me to carry on for many many years an activity that I deeply enjoy; lifting weights.This was the main point of this thread started by David Horne as shown in the following quote " old-time performing strongman Ronnie Tait (this was in a 1994 letter). He said that he thought his peak of strength came at 50-60 years of age [1966-76], and this was after 28 years of training already!"This im sure gives David inspiration the same as Stan and Harry do for me .Slim the hammerman also made a similar statement regarding his peak of strength.

I have encounted among my friends as mentioned before a negative attitude of being too old at ages 30 , 35, for doing normal weightlifting or anything to improve themselves for that matter this is the negative attitude I mentioned; professional sports as Wannagrip mentioned is a totally different topic, I dont expect a man of 50 or over to break athletic records etc but its still good to know that I can still maintain a high level of MY strength and do an activity that i enjoy for 20+ more years as others have done

Mark

[Bill Piche]

"professional sports as Wannagrip mentioned is a totally different topic, I dont expect a man of 50 or over to break athletic records etc but its still good to know that I can still maintain a high level of MY strength and do an activity that i enjoy for 20+ more years as others have done"

I was even just meaning a very high level -- higher than when one was in their twenties and thirties. Unless someone is doing drugs to enhance themselves to the levels of a 20 or 30 year old, they should not count on "peaking at 60". But, that does not mean then cannot maintain a high level of strength compared to the people norm.

[OldGuy]

"i often think someone loosing there edge as they age is mainly a mental state rather than a physical one"

Think again on this when you reach 50 or 60. Right now you have no way of knowing.

This reminds me of those who post saying there are no limits to human performance, and that people will contine indefinitely to get bigger faster and stronger and that age is just a number! Anyone who disagrees with this is called negative.

[gazza]

John

If we all thought that then Bannister would not have broken the 4mins mile and all other records would have stayed intact of coarse there are "LIMITS" to one potential but i like to think i aint reached mine yet.

I dont think anyone ever exceeded there potential you would see a very frightening level of power and strength if that was to happen regardless of the individual.

[David Horne]

My thoughts on this after training for 28 years and competing for 21 years are (I am 45);

I am sure my best fitness, speed and recovery was between 20-35 years of age.

But I think my best mind-set/toughness for competitions have probably come from 35 onwards and it is very good now. Certain lifts I am the strongest now, and others far from it. I am sure that the downward spiral on these lifts have been due to the various injuries (some bad) I have accumulated.

There are a few lifts that I have trained constantly for a long time, and the 2 Hands Pinch Lift is one, and in the 18 years I have done it I think I'm the best I've been now.

I feel that maybe hand strength depreciates less than other areas, by the fact I have met many old strongmen who still have a great strength in this area long after other areas have weakened significantly.

David

[OldGuy]

If you are saying there are limits that can never be reached, but try anyway, then I agree.

[climber511]

I'll be 59 in just a few weeks now. I train very consistently, fairly hard and try to train smart; I try to eat fairly well, I believe my mental attitude is better than average. But I can't kid myself, I'm not the man I once was. No matter how hard I try, I simply cannot do many of the things I once could, be it strength, recovery, coordination, speed, quickness, endurance, agility, or whatever. Like all older athletes, I deal constantly with a list of old injuries as a consequence of my lifestyle over the years. That's not to say I'm quite feeble yet but I peaked many years ago. I still set PRs fairly regular, especially in grip because it's fairly new for me. I believe there is age and training age, and they can be quite different things - I started lifting in 1959 at the age of 11, and I'd say I peaked somewhere around 30 to 35 or so overall with strength actually being the last to go of all qualities. So it took me 15 to 25 years of lifting and training to top out - I held on pretty well for a decade or so and now as I near 60 the decline has truly begun. Oh, I think I can hold on to a respectable level of strength for several years yet but I'm not going to fool myself and think any big gains are in the future in overall strength. I'll eak out some PRs and perhaps train up for particular feats of strength that I've never managed before by specializing on them over a period of time but to be honest, I consider more and more the consequences of injuries, my overall health and my fitness to do extended work such as my climbing to be more important than just raw strength. I still try to compete on a regular basis as I think it is important not to fool ones self as to where you stand and what is possible - seeing others do things I can not yet do keeps me fresh and motivated to do better - and chasing dreams is what it's all about.

"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention to arrive safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow!! What a ride!"

[gumpster]

Good thread - good variety of responses as well.

I have my thoughts on this also. I don't feel that many all-age athletic performance records will be broken by men/women in their 50s or 60s. This, I believe, is simply due to the fact that the human body reaches a level of physical maturity in the 20-40 year range with a few exceptions. I'd wager gymnasts peak in their teens. Another aspect that comes into play is the time frame during which a person takes up the activity.

I have followed track & field for many years and noticed a trend in the record setters who keep breaking the age group records for those past their prime (60-80+). They often did not train in the sport during their physically prime years (20-40). One perfect example is a guy by the name of Ed Whitlock. He was a decent distance runner in his teens and college, not world class but good. After college he basically quit running then in his 40s took it back up again. He has since smashed a bunch of records in the old guy age groups (including a 2:54 marathon at age 73). The interesting part of all this is that he basically let his body rest during his 20s and 30s then got back into the activity, now he is better than the guys who trained continuously their entire lives. He probably would not have been much of a challenge to the top guys had he stuck with the sport in his 20s-30s...but now he dominates the guys his age. The guys who trained their entire lives seem to have worn themselves out with all the years of abuse on the muscles and joints and most likely had many more injuries.

I can relate to this. I'm 35 now, probably cresting the "hill" of my physical potential and I don't see myself setting any PRs in the activities I've done for the last 20 years (running/biking). On the other hand, if I were to take up a new activity like weight lifting (which I have never done) I could see myself making gains/PRs for years...well into my 40s and beyond. Grip activities are new to me since I just started playing with a gripper 6 months ago. I don't think I can break any world records but hopefully I can keep improving on grip stuff for many years to come due to my late start.

Who knows, maybe in the not too distant future there will be sanctioned grip competitions with separate age group categories for the older guys. I for one would love to see some of the masters like Horne, Brookfield & Sorin lay down records in those older age groups for the next generations to shoot for. They can have Masters & Grand-Masters categories in addition to the regular class. Grip World Championships or even Grip Olympics anyone? We can dream can't we. I might not be competing but I'll sure as hell watch!

Edited July 29, 2007 by gumpster