Fountain of Youth? Strive ‘Couzens Immortality Quotient’

Older athletes, particularly runners, anxious about their capacity to remain match would possibly need to remember what Alex Hutchinson of Outside journal dubs the Couzens Immortality Quotient. It is primarily based on an remark made by triathlon coach Alan Cummings: “All else being equal, the quantity of cardio health his athletes misplaced by getting a 12 months older was nearly equivalent to the quantity they gained by including an hour monthly of coaching time,” writes Hutchinson. Translating that into the true world signifies that individuals who do not need to “lose” health in a given 12 months ought to squeeze in an additional quarter-hour of operating per week. That may finally grow to be unwieldy, on condition that the additional time would add as much as 2.5 hours every week after a decade. Nonetheless, the general premise is sensible and may be utilized in additional sensible methods, Hutchinson suggests.

He digs into analysis on the difficulty, together with this study out of the College of Lausanne that reached a Cummings-esque conclusion—”solely about half of the health losses suffered by endurance athletes as they grow old are attributable to the passage of time. The opposite half may be chalked as much as diminished coaching.” It does not need to be intense coaching: That research and others level to “plenty of low-intensity train” as the important thing to long-term health, writes Hutchinson. The purpose is to maintain shifting. “You don’t practice much less since you’re getting previous; you get previous, to a shocking extent, as a result of skipping that lengthy Sunday run together with your friends turns into a behavior as a substitute of a uncommon exception,” he concludes. “Don’t do it.” Learn the full essaywhich delves into VO2 max, a measure of cardio health that declines as we age, however much less so for many who maintain match. (Learn extra fitness tales.)