{"id":244655,"date":"2026-01-18T11:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T11:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/244655\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T11:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T11:22:10","slug":"this-is-the-age-at-which-you-hit-peak-fitness-say-researchers-plus-tips-on-how-to-build-strength-for-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/244655\/","title":{"rendered":"This is the age at which you hit peak fitness, say researchers \u2013 plus, tips on how to build strength for life"},"content":{"rendered":"

We often hear about professional athletes who are still performing the top of their game in their mid-30s and beyond \u2013 and we also find ourselves marvelling at much older athletes<\/a> who are still operating exceptionally well for their years. So is there really such a thing as an optimal fitness age? <\/p>\n

The answer, according to new research published in the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle<\/a>, is yes \u2013 there is a certain age when fitness levels start to peak. But whether you\u2019re older or younger than this specific mark, there are some very effective things that you can do to extend your fitness longevity<\/a>. Here\u2019s what doctors want you to know.<\/p>\n

What did the study find?<\/p>\n

For the study, researchers from Sweden\u2019s Karolinska Institutet followed 427 people aged between 16 and 63. During the nearly 50-year study period, the participants were asked to take part in a range of fitness and strength tests, like the vertical jump \u2013 which is often used to measure muscle strength \u2013 and moves that track their aerobic capacity.<\/p>\n

After crunching the data, the researchers discovered that physical ability starts to decline as early as age 35. From ages 35 to 63, the drop in the participants\u2019 physical capacity dropped, on average, from 30% to 48%.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a huge caveat here to keep in mind: people who stayed physically active had a much slower decline than those who weren\u2019t as athletic. <\/p>\n

What does \u2018decline\u2019 even mean here?<\/p>\n

The word \u2018decline\u2019 doesn\u2019t sound fun when talking about your fitness. However, according to Maria Westerst\u00e5hl, PhD,<\/a> lecturer at the Karolinska Institutet-Stockholm Department of Laboratory Medicine and the study\u2019s lead author, it isn\u2019t as tragic as it seems. <\/p>\n

\u2018After peak capacity is reached, the decline is very slow at first, with approximately a 0.5% decrease per year,\u2019 she says. \u2018However, this decrease accelerates with age and by age 60, we lose more than 2% of our capacity each year.\u2019<\/p>\n

This may mean that you can\u2019t run as fast as you once did<\/a> with the same amount of training, you can\u2019t jump over a puddle as easily as you used to, or it feels harder to lift and carry some objects around, says Westerst\u00e5hl. <\/p>\n

\u2018The stronger you are before the decline sets in and the more you exercise afterward, the later \u2013 if ever \u2013 this restriction to your independent life will occur,\u2019 she adds. <\/p>\n

\"determined<\/p>\n

Tom Werner\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Why performance starts to drop after 35<\/p>\n

There are a few potential reasons for this. \u2018One of the biggest things is that your muscles start to waste away, especially if they\u2019re not used,\u2019 says Brad Wilkins, PhD<\/a>, assistant professor of human physiology and Director of the Oregon Performance Research Laboratory at the University of Oregon. <\/p>\n

Shane Davis, MD<\/a>, non-operative sports medicine physician at Tufts Medical Center, also says that losing muscle mass can impact your strength and endurance. <\/p>\n

Plus, Westerst\u00e5hl notes that there seems to be an \u2018inherent biological ageing process\u2019 that impacts signalling between your nerves and muscles. That can slow you down over time, she explains.<\/p>\n

How to maintain your fitness performance<\/p>\n

It\u2019s really important to stress that your fitness isn\u2019t doomed to fall off a cliff after the age of 35. \u2018The height of your fitness peak and how fast you come up and go down does seem to be changeable,\u2019 says Wilkins. <\/p>\n

While consistent training is important, Wilkins says that you can actually improve or maintain your fitness as you age by tweaking things as you go. \u2018We get wiser with age and our training may be able to be optimised for the responses that we want as we get older,\u2019 he says. \u2018Your decision-making may also get better. You might be rising in a lot of different performance aspects, like better nutrition and sleep. This may mean that your performance won\u2019t decline as much as you\u2019d think.\u2019<\/p>\n

Westerst\u00e5hl, referring to the study, agrees. \u2018Those [participants] who were physically active \u2013 either from before or by becoming active later in life \u2013 had [an aerobic] capacity that was 5-10% higher compared to those who were not physically active,\u2019 she says. Being physically active can help you to perform the same as someone up to five years younger than you, she adds. <\/p>\n

As Davis notes, you can also build muscle mass, strength and endurance throughout your life. \u2018Regular exercise can also slow declines seen in normal ageing,\u2019 he says. \u2018So while it may be more difficult or impossible to reach the peak physical performance that one could have in their 20s, it does not mean that people cannot improve from where they are today and maintain good physical fitness throughout life.\u2019<\/p>\n

While you\u2019re at it, Westerst\u00e5hl recommends doing what you can to maintain a healthy weight<\/a>, eat a good diet<\/a> and get plenty of sleep<\/a>. \u2018Good overall health will support your ability to be active and to benefit from exercise,\u2019 she says. So, keep on pushing yourself. You may be surprised at how much you can achieve, even as you get older. <\/p>\n

Related Story<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We often hear about professional athletes who are still performing the top of their game in their mid-30s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230825,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[15547,125542,589,125541,125540,163,125543,85,46,11186,6533,1160],"class_list":{"0":"post-244655","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-aerobic-exercise","9":"tag-age-when-fitness-levels-peak","10":"tag-fitness","11":"tag-fitness-levels-peak-age","12":"tag-fitness-longevity","13":"tag-health","14":"tag-how-to-exercise-at-any-age","15":"tag-il","16":"tag-israel","17":"tag-longevity","18":"tag-muscle-health","19":"tag-strength-training"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}