I’m no where near an old man yet but I was in significantly better shape at 18 yet I’m much stronger at 24. I’ve seen numerous old men outclass me even though I’m “in my prime”. So do we just get more potent hormones as adults? Better muscle mind connecting?
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I’m hardly an expert, but it may be a combination of things. First, as you say, muscle memory and experience at lifting things. If you’ve spent years training your body, you’re going to reap the rewards. That’s the beauty of training — you can’t cheat your way into strength. You gotta work hard to attain it.
Similarly too, as you grow in size, you effectively increase the load your muscles carry around. So you may have been leaner at age 18, but if you’ve gained mass, you’ve been indirectly training your muscles to lift a much higher weight than you used to simply by living. Of course, having too high of a mass (body fat particularly) is linked to many forms of disease and poor health, so balance is required with bulking.
But in addition to a larger size being related to giving you more strength, your body also has more reserves of fuel to draw from, which could also help in your lifting. All I know is that when I do a cut, I find I generally lose my ability to hit PR, and have to work a lot harder at it. (That could be unique only to me though).
Remember though, that you’ve got a benefit with your youth. There’s a very good chance that those older gentlemen have to be more careful than you because even though they have the raw power, they probably don’t heal from injuries like you will. Part of being in your prime is being able to (relatively) bounce back, so you may be able to get away with poor form (not that you ever should!!!!), then an older person would. That’s part of the reason why continuing to train as you get older is so important, because injuries take longer to heal, and you’ve got more soreness for longer.
Thankfully, our bodies are wonderful things, and when trained properly, combined with proper lifting and training techniques, we can do a lot to help ourselves.
EDIT:/ I just want to clarify again, I’m no expert and there are far better answers then the one I provided. But hopefully this gets the conversation rolling. ☺️
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Intuitive understanding of leverage and where/ how to grip with better technique comes into play, and sheer willpower too
Teenage boys aren’t that strong.
The more you work a muscle, the more endurance. Progressive overload makes you stronger.
Also you might be getting fatter. So you look doughy. Middle aged guys who work in construction are freakishly strong…also ugly.
Old man strength has always been to me about relying more on technique because you can no longer just muscle your way through things. The knowledge combined with still being pretty strong is a lethal combo.
That’s why pro athletes at age 30 usually can beat the crap out of players 10 years younger than them.
You are not in your prime, physical peak for men is around 30. If you look at different competition : Powerlifter peak at 35, while weightlifters peak at 26. For strongman, the champion are between 25 and 37, with the average at 30.
The main reason is that your level of testosterone and growth hormone peak at around 30 before starting to decrease.
You reflexes peak at 24 and so sports that are more about reflexes than pure strength tend to be dominated by younger athletes. There is other factor like flexibility or technique that can affect at which age you reach your peak performance in a specific sport.
I had a snowboard trainer which did train me to do blindfolded turns, riding with boots untied, riding and jumping in switch. all of this done to exhaustion, like I was jumping when my legs were barely able to walk.
Me: Why are we doing this? It hurts, it has nothing to do with jumping.
She: we are not training your body, that’s something you can do by yourself. We are making your brain learning how to do it without your body help. And we are doing it as hard as possible. Your brain is not gonna like it.
We did this for a week, in summer. When winter came, none of my friends did recognize me while riding. I was another person. I was literally using my body in a completely different fashion.
What an “older” person has, is the brain experience to use every bit of the body better. It takes immense practice, but every thing you do can be done with a single strong muscle, or a concert of all the muscles in your body. The first needs strength, the second needs experience.
I was so lucky I met this girl, my trainer for a week, she missed the Olympics by a hair once, and then she was too old to try the next, but god IMO she is gold medal in training people now.
I was old, I started the sport too late to excel, but I wanted to see what I could have done with some expert training and it was incredible to see Ho “strong” you get if the brain knows what to do.
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