Do you remember when Jerry Rice was still playing his last few productive years in the NFL when he was an Oakland Raider? The guy was 38, 39 years old and still catching a lot of balls and burning defensive backs. Or how about John Stockton who was playing at a high level at the point guard position (a position where you have to be quick and fast) at age 40. When you were watching those older athletes, did you ever marvel at how they were staying in such great shape?
When I was in college I used to play pick-up basketball all the time. We'd play for 4 or 5 hours non-stop, go home shower, and then be ready to go out for the evening. Sure we were tired, but you usually were ready to go after resting for an hour, showering, and getting a quick bite to eat. Those were the days when the body was just indestructible.
I continued to play sports throughout my 20's and started noticing it taking longer and longer to recover from whatever I was doing. In my 30's, I got married and started a family, thus my commitment to playing sports consistently, started dwindling. My body wasn't recovering like it used to because I wasn't playing nearly as often.
Let's flash forward to present day. I'm basically at the wrong side of my 30's, looking very close to that 4-0 number and now my sport activity is reduced to playing some flag football once a week and basketball once or twice a year. Here is how my body responds at my current age.
It takes a little longer for me to get warmed up than when I was younger. If I have to rest during any of these activities, I kinda have to keep moving around a little bit, so I don't stiffen up, otherwise, I might have to re-warm myself up. When I play basketball, I no longer can play for 4-5 hours. I probably have a window of 1.5 hours and then my body is telling me I'm done. I can still run as fast, I just can't jump as high and now when I jump around and make the short, quick movements, my body can't handle it for long durations.
The flag football is the same way. You play your game of short quick bursts every 60 seconds and by the time it is all said and done, my body has had enough.
So, now I feel more aches and pains in my body. Stuff that wasn't creeping in before and I have to do more preparation to try and offset those pains. If you follow my tweets, a lot of my workouts are trying to prep my body for some of this activity. I do a lot of sprints for my cardio because I feel that is the best for conditioning and burning fat, but I also want my body to continue to feel how it is to sprint so it's not thrown for a loop when I play these sports.
The recovery for me is what has really changed in the last 10-15 years and this is what I am astounded to see with these older professional athletes. If I play basketball or my flag football (which consists of 2 games for a little over an hour), there is no way I would be able to play again the next day. I'm just too sore. I might have to alter my workouts a little bit if I'm lifting the next day to go for more recovery rather than strength. I would say I'm close to normal about 3 days later and can resume my sprinting and lifting at full go.
So, imagine someone like Jerry Rice playing a speedy position in football. The banging and punishment he has to take and then bounce back through practices to be ready to play a week later. I'm just playing flag football and I'm sore. Forget about someone trying to take my head off.
Or John Stockton playing an 82 regular season schedule in basketball. A much quicker recovery time because sometimes games are played back to back. It is incredible he was able to maintain his high level at age 40 throughout the whole season.
Basically, this is a testament to their off-season training. The prep work they go through, plus the in-season maintenance to keep their bodies at that high level consistently and keep up with the younger guys. The younger you can start to understand this, the better you will be in the long run.
So, next time you try to go out and play that pick-up game of basketball and you are laid up on the couch afterwards for days because you are sore, appreciate these professional athletes. Especially, the older ones. Think about what they do to prepare their bodies so they can continue to shine and entertain you with their incredible athleticism.
No comments:
Post a Comment