Older Athletes Have a Strikingly Young Fitness Age

Do you know your fitness age? Last year, researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim tested the fitness and health of more than 5,000 Norwegian adults and used the resulting data to create a sophisticated algorithm that could rapidly calculate someone’s aerobic capacity and relative fitness age based on his or her sex, resting heart rate, waist size and exercise routine.

You can use the incredibly simple online calculator here

This year, a professor at the University of Maryland, decided to use that calculator to study the fitness ages of athletes between the ages of 50 and 100 – specifically the men and women who participated in this past year’s Senior Olympic Games.

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The results were impressive. While the athletes’ average chronological age was 68, their average fitness age was 43, a remarkable 25 years less. And the effect was similar for both male and female athletes. Virtually every athlete had a lower fitness age than his or her chronological age.

The study also came with a pretty inspiring takeaway message. The researchers found out that the majority of the Senior Olympians didn’t begin serious training until later in life. And in fact, a few didn’t even begin exercising regularly until they were middle-aged or older. So it’s never too late to start exercising!

Curated Article and Photo Credit from The New York Times