Why are ageing researchers interested in people who still compete at the age of 60, 70 or 80? Because Masters athletes help answer a rare question: what happens to performance when ageing interacts with long-term training over decades?
A review published in 2026 summarises current findings on physical performance in Masters athletes.
Ageing remains – but its trajectory changes
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With increasing age, muscle mass, neuromuscular performance and various physiological functions decline. Regular training cannot stop this process completely.
In Masters athletes who have trained for many years, however, functional decline is often flatter than in the general population. The authors describe effects on cardiovascular, neurocognitive and musculoskeletal function.
Training is not a fountain of youth
This is an important distinction. Masters athletes age too. Recovery takes longer, injury risks change and maximum performance values decline.
But both the starting point and the rate of loss can be influenced by years of activity.
What this means for Masters training
The most sensible strategy is therefore not to copy the training of a 25-year-old for as long as possible. Training load, strength work, mobility and recovery need to be adjusted with age.
Equally, older athletes should not automatically be underloaded. A 70-year-old competitive swimmer can tolerate substantial training – simply with a different individual profile.
Masters sport therefore demonstrates something important for swimming as a whole: performance orientation and healthy ageing are not opposites.
Performance-oriented means age-appropriate
Masters training can be ambitious. Age-appropriate does not automatically mean slow; it means appropriately dosed: sufficient strength stimuli, high quality in intense sets and enough recovery. Experienced swimmers in particular benefit when their training is neither infantilised nor copied blindly from elite programmes.
SCIENTIFIC SOURCE
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42126593/