This is an article I originally wrote for the Hitchin Nomads Cycle Club newsletter. I thought it’s pretty useful information, so I have made a few tweaks and repurposed it here as a blog for all to see.

Most of my clients are active people like yourself, over the age of 35, many of them in their forties or fifties. It would be unethical of me to rely solely on personal anecdotes and observations when discussing matters of human physiology, so I will be citing references to empirical data.

But let me first establish some context. This article, although brief, will look at some of the unique challenges facing masters’ athletes and attempt to offer some practical lifestyle practices that you could incorporate to help you achieve more optimal health, performance, and recovery, and ultimately enjoy your cycling as much as you can, for as long as you can.

Let me start by looking at basic health and what an ageing athlete might need to do differently compared to their younger self in order to stave off age-related declines in health and performance.

Health

According to a 2015 review paper published in Sports Health (1), masters athletes are categorised as any athlete over the age of 35, because this is the age at which cardiovascular issues can start to become more of a concern (but don’t worry, much of that is related to lifestyle and diet, as much as it is age). According to Harnett et al. (2022), participants at the 2009 World Masters Games displayed significantly lower rates of asthma, coronary artery disease, stroke, cancer (all types combined), depression, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, hypothyroidism, osteoporosis/osteopenia, Parkinson’s disease, and peripheral arterial disease compared to the Australian general population (2).

That ought not to be a surprise, seeing as elite-level athletes are obviously highly active and most likely take their nutrition and recovery/sleep more seriously than the general population. This is where I want you to concentrate about 80% of your efforts. However, you need to understand that there is no agreed-upon scientific definition of what ‘healthy’ is. For example, if a person is a healthy weight and body fat percentage, sleeps for 8 hours a night, eats an agreeable ratio of carbohydrates, fats, and protein with a good amount of fibre and a variety of vegetables and fruits in calorically appropriate quantities, exercises for 10+ hours per week, doesn’t smoke or drink, but has asthma—are they healthier than an overweight, less active person who has no health conditions requiring medication to control the symptoms? It’s a grey area.

In an effort to keep this as brief as possible, here are the things you can control that may ensure relatively good health. These are the macro components of any health-seeking lifestyle:

1. Sleep: The Sleep Council recommends 7-9 hours’ sleep for adults. This means that if your alarm goes off at 7am, you need to be in bed by about 10.30pm in order to ensure at least 8 hours of sleep each night.
2. Diet: Eat a variety of vegetables and other plant foods but ensure adequate protein intake (more on that in a bit).
3. Resistance Training: Yes, you read that right. Even endurance athletes need to do resistance training, and the older we get, the more important it becomes. If for no other reason than to keep your bones strong, so you are less likely to break them when you fall off your bike. I can expand more on this in another newsletter, but for now, just consider incorporating at least 30 minutes of body-strengthening exercises a minimum of twice per week. At the very least do some deadlifts and squats a couple of times per week. Or hit me up for a training plan.

Nutrition

Okay, so we have established that masters’ athletes, although generally healthier than the general population, do have some unique considerations to take into account. So, let’s talk about diet in a bit more detail, because from what I have seen, this is the one area most recreational athletes struggle with. Old habits die hard, and all that.

It is an observation I have made over the years from being around people who partake in endurance sports, and from analysing the food diaries of clients within the demographic, that carbohydrate intake is not a problem. However, the quality of those carbs can be questionable. I see a bias towards bread, pasta, and pastries. Now, none of these things are ‘bad’ in isolation, but if more than 50% of all the carbs you eat come from processed ‘white’ carbs, there is a possibility that you will not meet your daily fibre requirements. They might also drive overconsumption and place you in a chronic calorie surplus. Therefore, the majority of your carbohydrate intake should come from whole grains like oats, rice, or whole wheat, and from pulses like beans or chickpeas, and from potatoes and other root vegetables. These complex, starchy carbs (white flour is still starch, and therefore ‘complex’ in formation but considerably less nutrient-dense and less satiating than wholegrain flour) are more nutritious and more filling than their more refined counterparts. You can save the sweets for intra-ride nutrition and the cakes or pastries as a post-ride treat, not as a staple of the diet.

Protein is super important. The current healthy eating guidelines of 0.8g of protein per kg of body weight are inadequate for ageing populations. That is barely enough to avoid nitrogen imbalance, let alone stimulate muscle protein synthesis (MPS).

Muscle protein synthesis is an anabolic reaction that prevents muscle protein breakdown and bone demineralisation—things that happen when a diet is chronically low in high-quality protein. High-quality proteins are protein sources that contain all the Branched-Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) Leucine, Isoleucine, and Valine. When a bolus of quality protein is consumed, it triggers MPS, which has a refractory period of about 3-4 hours. This is why bodybuilders tend to pulse their protein intake, eating 3-6 protein feedings a day.

You are not a bodybuilder, but you do need to at least hit your minimum protein intake each day. For ageing populations (over 40s), that minimum requirement is 1.2g/kg (3,4). However, for endurance athletes, it is recommended by both the ISSN and the IOS that a protein intake of 1.4-2g per kg is optimal. So, this raises the question of whether you want to be ‘healthy’ or ‘optimal’. 1.2g/kg might prevent the onset of sarcopenia, osteopenia, or even osteoporosis, but 1.4g+ would be better. In fact, 1.6g/kg is the minimum recommendation for building muscle and, therefore, preventing muscle protein breakdown. I recommend 1.6g/kg to most of my clients, regardless of their goals. It’s just a safe number to shoot for. These recommendations are based on lean mass. You won’t be able to accurately measure that, so if you are not as lean as Pogacar, use your ideal body weight as a surrogate for lean mass. Before you ask, this is gender agnostic. Male and female athletes have the same requirements, as far as protein intake is concerned.

Although it is true that as we age, we develop anabolic resistance, this does not mean it is impossible to build or maintain muscle mass. It just means that we need a little more protein per meal than we did when we were younger. Aim for 0.4-0.5g/kg per meal, or simply work out your daily total based on 1.6 x kg/bw and divide it by however many meals (likely 3 or 4) you eat each day. So, if you weigh 70kg, that’s 70 x 1.6 = 112g / 3 (meals) = 37g per meal, which is about 0.5g/kg. Obviously, it helps to understand the composition of the foods you eat, so if you have no idea what 37g of protein looks like in real-terms you should try tracking your food intake using an app.

There is one other thing that can help you to avoid the onset of sarcopenia or other muscle/bone wasting conditions, and that is resistance training. Simply lifting some weights will stimulate muscle and bone growth, even in elderly populations. Couple that with adequate quality protein intake, and your bone mineral density will not only be better than that of the less active general population in your age category, but you’ll probably be no more fragile than you were in your twenties.

OK, this all sounds pretty confusing, so let me sum this section up by suggesting a visual tool. Imagine a dinner plate—what should a typical meal look like on that plate? Half of it should be fibrous veg—leafy greens, that kind of thing. A quarter of it should be from starchy carbs and a quarter from lean protein sources like white meat, fish, or tofu. If you are a butter fanatic, I would suggest cutting back on that and replacing most of your oils with olive oil. Eat this way three or four times per day, add a little extra starch the night before a big ride, and you’ll be in a pretty good place health- and performance-wise.

Recovery

I have already mentioned sleep, and that is the main thing you can optimise to ensure good recovery. It is while you sleep that your body heals itself. You will produce growth hormone to repair damaged cells and, crucially, being well slept will improve health markers like insulin sensitivity, blood pressure, and reduce stress/anxiety. As I mentioned earlier, aim for at least 7 hours of sleep every night. Try to get to bed at the same time every night and avoid long lie-ins. Turn off your phone, stop binge-watching Netflix, and keep your caffeine intake to the early part of the day. Caffeine has a half-life of about 6-8 hours, meaning that if you drink a coffee at 5pm, the caffeine is still in your bloodstream past midnight, and that is enough to delay sleep onset and reduce overall sleep quality.

Other ways to recover include stretching after long rides/races, sports massage (there’s no magic there, but it feels nice and does release ‘feel-good’ hormones), a soak in a bath (no need for ice baths), and even meditation—which does more than just make you feel relaxed; it can literally reprogram your brain chemistry if done consistently (5).

Final word

As we age our health and fitness are challenged in ways that youthfulness doesn't even notice. Reductions in muscle mass, bone density and hormone secretion can affect performance, recovery and injury risk. But we can ameliorate these changes by making subtle changes to the way we train and eat. To sum it up, here's some of those bullet points you all love so much:

• Sleep for 7-9 hours every night - being under slept negatively affects hormone balance and muscle recovery, and impacts on cognition and raises injury risk.
• Resistance training will improve muscular strength, size and bone density. Aim for 2-3 resistance training sessions per week, or include plyometrics.
• Eat enough protein. at-least 1.6g/kg. You can achieve this by eating more eggs, fish, chicken, meats and dairy. If you are plant based, get more soy products onboard along with plenty of pulses and wholegrains.
• Nutrient dense, whole food starches should be your primary carb source outside of intra ride fuel. 

If you are unsure how to implement those changes then you need to hire a coach to help. Finally, if you found this article helpful, please do give it a share on your socials.

Coach Troy

TMF Resources

1. The TM Fitness digital shop
2. Kettlebells & Beers
3. Sleep Lift Eat

References:

1. Tayrose GA, Beutel BG, Cardone DA, Sherman OH. The Masters Athlete: A Review of Current Exercise and Treatment Recommendations. Sports Health. 2015 May;7(3):270-6. doi: 10.1177/1941738114548999. PMID: 26131307; PMCID: PMC4482301.
2. Harnett J, Climstein M, Walsh J, Gifford J. The Use of Medications and Dietary Supplements by Masters Athletes - a Review. Curr Nutr Rep. 2022 Jun;11(2):253-262. doi: 10.1007/s13668-022-00398-0. Epub 2022 May 30. PMID: 35635719; PMCID: PMC9174319.
3. Wayne W Campbell, Nicolaas E P Deutz, Elena Volpi, Caroline M Apovian, Nutritional Interventions: Dietary Protein Needs and Influences on Skeletal Muscle of Older Adults, The Journals of Gerontology: Series A, Volume 78, Issue Supplement_1, June 2023, Pages 67–72, https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glad038.
4. Courtney-Martin G, Ball RO, Pencharz PB, Elango R. Protein Requirements during Aging. Nutrients. 2016 Aug 11;8(8):492. doi: 10.3390/nu8080492. PMID: 27529275; PMCID: PMC4997405.
5. Courtney-Martin G, Ball RO, Pencharz PB, Elango R. Protein Requirements during Aging. Nutrients. 2016 Aug 11;8(8):492. doi: 10.3390/nu8080492. PMID: 27529275; PMCID: PMC4997405.

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