yesIX years ago it seemed that Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s football career was approaching the final whistle. Following Sweden’s early exit from Euro 2016, the striker announced his retirement from international competition. At 34 years old, he was taking a bit to be an elite athlete. Cut to November 2021 and, days after firing a spectacular free kick for his club AC Milan, Sweden’s record goalscorer was helping to keep his country’s hopes of reaching the next World Cup alive. The retirement talk was over. “I’m trying to prove that 40 is just a number,” he said.
Ibrahimovic had joined what feels like a growing club: the forty-year-old athlete who stops the clock. In an increasingly demanding era of professional sports, these twilight stars seem to challenge notions that youth trumps all else. Members include American football superstar Tom Brady (44), tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams (41, 40), Roger Federer (40), and Oksana Chusovitina (46), the eight-time Olympic gymnast from Uzbekistan.
Of course, there have always been athletic outliers. But is something else going on? Is it about improving nutrition, technology or psychology? Or do sports stars just take better care of themselves? What are the secrets to sustained high performance, and what can 40-somethings do every day to stay healthy during what can be a grueling but crucial decade?
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I am only six months younger than Ibrahimovic. I made it through my 20s and early 30s without much concern. I biked, ran and swam. Now I juggle work stress and two children under the age of four. I ride when I can, a few times a week on a soulless indoor bike, but if I’m not at my desk, I’m picking up toys, food, or wriggling humans off the ground. I’ve seen a questionable hip and back worsen. I can’t run, I feel uncomfortable on the bike and I take ibuprofen to help me sleep without pain.
I am also becoming more aware of my own mortality and have told myself that 2022, when I turn 40, is the year I will make up my mind. I suspect my heart and lungs are fine, but I feel like I have the physique and flexibility of a much older man. I can hear things creaking.
Let’s keep things depressing for a while. Because 40 is not just a number. “People peak in most sporting events in their mid-30s,” says Stephen Harridge, professor of human and applied physiology at King’s College London. Harridge, 56, a former 400-meter hurdles runner, specializes in aging. You then enter a “progressive decline in performance” that remains constant until age 70 (don’t ask).
Measuring this decline can be tricky. Maximum heart rates are an indicator (they fall). So are the 100 meter sprint times in the master and senior races. “Over 40 we see a 0.6 second decrease in the times for men and women,” says Harridge. A combination of small changes, including drops in muscle mass, aerobic capacity, and neuromuscular control, the way the brain directs our muscles, add up to a drop in what’s possible. For people like me, bad knees, creaky backs, weak cores, and sloppy details can further limit performance.
The elite twilight club has several advantages that make the difference. “The most important is what we call physiological reserve,” says James Moore, consultant physiotherapist and director of sports and exercise medicine at the CHHP sports clinic in central London. “They have developed a training history and the ability to listen to their bodies.” A wise head can also count. “We all love older players who can’t run as fast as they used to, but have developed this incredible tactical sense, so they don’t have to run anymore,” says Jeff Bercovici, author of Play: How to get better with age.
See also: money. We would all be a little more flexible if we could surround ourselves with physios, coaches, cooks and babysitters. Moore, 47, got a call last summer from Andy Murray, who was trying to get back to winning form after two hip surgeries. The Scottish tennis star’s joint problems are unusual for his age (he’s 34), but less so in Moore’s other patients, who tend to be in their 40s and above. Moore reviewed Murray’s training and rehabilitation regimen to help him better deal with the inconsistent demands of tennis, where matches can last for hours and there may be little time to recover between rounds in a tournament.
With older patients, Moore says, the challenge is getting a sense of their changing boundaries. Anyone, whether heading to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup or KFC through a field of five, you must be smart enough to play it cool, and do less, or risk injury. Can’t match your 5K personal best from a decade ago, or lift the same in the gym? Do not worry. “You have to park your ego at the door,” says Baz Moffat, a former Team GB Olympic rower and co-founder of The hole, a women’s wellness advocacy group.
Enjoying an activity is more important than what you do, because then you will continue to do it. “Let’s not forget that most people hate physical exercise,” says Alexei Sharp, 49, a former decathlete, at FitFor gym and physiotherapy clinic in southeast London. Moore, who was head of performance for Team GB in Rio, says he has seen so many battered bodies that he can determine a patient’s problem within the first 10 minutes of a consultation. “I spend the rest of the time trying to find a solution that fits their lifestyle and motivates them,” he says.
The enjoyment often comes from competitive sport that is fun and maybe nostalgic, maybe 5v5 or netball. But if an hour of intense exercise falls between a day at a desk and a session at the bar, you’re asking for trouble. “Five a side is so jarring for the joints and the muscles,” says Moore. The key, he adds, is removing chemicals from your muscles that cause pain if allowed to linger. “Going for a run for five minutes after the game and then stretching is much better than stretching or just going to the pub.”
Cold water also helps this rinsing process by stimulating blood flow, whether it’s an ice bath, ice packs, or a cold shower. Moore says that elite athletes are drinking more and more tart cherry juice. Contains natural anti-inflammatories that reduce muscle pain and loss of strength after exertion.
When pain stops play, switching to low-impact sports like swimming and cycling can be good for your cardiovascular system. But the loss of impact can be detrimental. Studies have shown that cartilage, even in the knees, benefits from impact as repetitive squeezing and releasing draws out fluid rich in nutrients and oxygen. Bones need impact to stay strong; Studies have shown that competitive cyclists have thinner and more brittle bones than comparable runners.
“It’s always a good idea to not just do one type of exercise,” says Harridge. Lifting weights and more resistance-based biking, such as going up a steep hill, can provide some impact, he adds, but regularly jogging short enough not to cause discomfort will reduce the chances of developing brittle bones later on.
Variety also means working a greater variety of muscles. I have the legs of a cyclist but the core and upper body of a lame rabbit. It’s not just about being strong, it’s about protecting your joints and promoting balanced movement throughout your body; squats and lunges, for example, strengthen the muscles around the knee.
It may be significant that Ibrahimovic is trained in taekwondo. His Milan teammate Paolo Maldini, retired at the age of 40, is also a great tennis player (he made his professional debut in 2017, at the age of 49, losing in the first round of a doubles tournament in Milan).
Sleep is often neglected as a factor in aging. And in this demographic, the stress that results from increased job responsibility can collide with the demands of a young family. A vicious circle can develop; the discomfort further reduces the quantity and quality of sleep, sapping energy levels. Sleep loss also contributes to a weakened immune system and a higher chance of developing depression, dementia, type 2 diabetes, and heart problems.
We also produce vital hormones while we sleep, including testosterone, which has a wide range of effects in men and women, including burning fat, building muscle, and strengthening bones. In short, by improving my fitness, I will sleep better, which will further improve my fitness.
Beyond mixing a manageable level of impact with more cardio and working on my sleep and warm-up habits, there is a growing variety of obscure gadgets, diets, and protocols that promise to mitigate the effects of aging. “I call them the one percent who contribute around the margins,” says Bercovici. However, some have proven to be effective. Moore is interested in Kaatsu, a form of training in which bands that restrict blood flow to muscles stimulate their growth and function. Like cold water or ice, he says handheld massage guns can also help cleanse muscles after exercise.
I’ve been advised to see a physical therapist for my own ailments and to be careful following, say, a random stretching routine on YouTube which can make things worse. Targeted Pilates movements, says Sharp, are what I need to rebalance my body and reduce stress on my lower back. Then I can run again and I should get stronger on the bike. And I will be able to raise my children without thinking twice.
Because the good news is that while elite athletes have to push themselves a few more years at the top after being used to supreme performance, it’s entirely possible for amateurs to peak in their 40s. “You see a lot of people who take up new sports and find they’re in that rewarding part of the curve where they’re getting better and better,” says Bercovici.
Perhaps Ibrahimovic could pivot to complete an iron man in a couple of years. In the meantime, he will play soccer as long as he can. “I don’t want to stop until they kick me out, well and truly done,” he said of his heroic comeback with Sweden. Two weeks later, she admitted to some frailty in an interview with The Guardian: “Every day I wake up, I’m in pain everywhere,” she said. There is hope for all of us.
www.theguardian.com
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism