Age and climbing

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http://www.epictv.com Francisco Marin, also known as "Novato" ("Rookie" in Spanish), is a 61-year-old climber and the only known person in the world to climb at this level at his age. He sent 8b+ in 2012, and now has 8c "Florida" as a project, all of them in Rodellar, Spain.

The video doing the on Facebook last week. Impressive stuff. Of course, it seems that random articles/videos/people are doing the rounds in this. I think it's great - the idea that you can continue to show progression over the long-term is something nice. Of course, most of us won't get to the levels these people are at, but whatever is your level, so long as you focus on life-long learning, it keeps things interesting.

I love that there's people out there like this who I've never heard of:

"While I scramble my way up a small overhang, we talk about his project: it’s doing “Sanjski Par Extension” 9a, “without the good holds”. That’s what he says. Without the good holds. Tadej is 51, he climbs 8c with no warm up and skips holds on 9a."

Of course, many misconceptions exist that as you get older, you can't perform at sports to the same level of intensity. It's an easy excuse to use as you get older. But then again, it's not just for performance why to exercise to a decent level:

Maintaining good health and fitness is probably the most important goal to keep in mind.

But there's also that when it comes to strength, you can still perform to a high level if you train smart:

"A 2011 study examined 40 athletes aged 40 to 81 to answer the question, “What really happens to our muscles as we age if we are chronically active?” Subjects in the study trained consistently (about four to five times a week) for competitions in various sports such as cycling, running, and swimming. This study shows that we are capable of preserving both muscle mass and strength with lifelong physical activity. The study also demonstrated the retention of muscle strength as we age (pictured to the right, MRI scans of quadriceps; ref 4). The athletes studied showed that peak torque measurements did not decline until ages 60-69, and no significant difference in peak torque measurements were observed among the 60, 70, and 80 year-old groups. So, although peak torque showed a decline around 60 years, there was little decline in strength with further aging."

From TrainingPeaks.com, who is run/operated by Vern Gambetta a fairly respectable(!) coach who writes regularly about older athletes on this blog and twitter account.

Do you agree? 

As always, please share :)