How real is old man strength?

[GoatArtemLobov]

I would really like some of you older guys to share your experience.
To me, it is fucking real.
In my gym, besides one guy who is 23 and a beast, the stronger guys are all between 30 and roughly 40, the younger guys like myself get all outpowered in a very humiliating way...
The 3 older guys I asked about that all told me they saw a crazy change between their early 20s and their mid 30s, gaining on average 20 pounds, without changing their training regimen (and it's mostly muscle).

This also comes to display with combat sport athletes who all move up in weight with time...

Any older guys here to agree/disagree?

 

[PointyShinyBurn]

Not as real as old man cardio.

 

[ChickenBrother]

Not as real as old man cardio.

LOL. As a mid-40's old man, I can confirm that old man flexibility, old man explosiveness and definitely old man recovery time are also very real.

But old man static strength is a thing. Folks that train continuously for years and years can make small incremental strength gains over time into older age. Having trained religiously for 30+ years now, I hit my max bench at age 35 which is when I stopped going for 1RMs. Old guys that work in the trades and/or long-time gi BJJ or Judo guys will have grips of iron into their 40's, 50's and beyond.

 

[Judochopatemi]

 

[EGDM]

Old man strength comes from years and years of doing physical things. (It almost doesn't matter what - the scariest grips I've ever felt were from a hand tool woodworker.) It's the decades-long buildup of tiny stabilizer muscles. Grips, core, etc, and the ability to connect your limbs through your center of mass. Whatever happens, your whole body weight is attached.

This, of course, comes at the cost of every other athletic attribute. Father Time can suck it.

(To be clear here, I'm talking about guys in the ~50+ range. LOL at mid-30's "old men".)

 

[AnotherOldGuy]

I would really like some of you older guys to share your experience.
To me, it is fucking real.
In my gym, besides one guy who is 23 and a beast, the stronger guys are all between 30 and roughly 40, the younger guys like myself get all outpowered in a very humiliating way...
The 3 older guys I asked about that all told me they saw a crazy change between their early 20s and their mid 30s, gaining on average 20 pounds, without changing their training regimen (and it's mostly muscle).

This also comes to display with combat sport athletes who all move up in weight with time...

Any older guys here to agree/disagree?

Physiologically, strength normally doesn't start to decrease until your mid-40's, and even then not so quickly. That's a lot later than reflexes (start to slow in your 20's) and stamina (in your 30's).

However, if you do the same tasks for years your nervous system gets better at signalling and coordinating the muscles that do that task (in an untrained muscle sometimes less than 50% of the muscles will get the signal to contract) -- you become more efficient at using the strength you have (think of a carpenter who's done a lot of hammering for decades).

Old man strength is a combination of not yet losing general muscle strength (muscle mass in particular) but gaining very efficient use of muscles (ie almost all of the fibers contracting or relaxing as required) because of years of repetition.

And yes, it exists. Unfortunately, its very task dependent. Things I've done a lot of I can do (as an old man) very easily, outworking many younger guys. But things I haven't done for years I'm not only not stronger than the same younger guy, but often functionally weaker because of less stamina. One of the things you really notice as you get older is how much slower your recovery is, even if you're in good shape. And in fact, many high level athletes will say the reason they had to retire wasn't because they couldn't keep up for a few games, but because the length of the season (NHL and NBA in particular) just wore them out.

 

[RemyR]

I think old man grip is more of a thing.

 

[Ivaylo Ivanov]

I do bunch of stuff for work, outside of sports.
Mostly, they dont take a lot of my daily time and leaves plenty to work on the renovation of my house.

I do all the plastering, drystone building, leveling the terrain and concrete by myself.

At the same time, I coach my teams (Judo, Sambo, BJJ, No Gi).
What I can say is that demographics are different and there is a definite trend for younger generations to be weaker, because of no demand of physical work.

You see, I grew up helping family members build their houses.
It was a tradition at the times, to call the whole family to help.
So kids were carrying buckets of concrete up a few floors, while adults were doing the masonry and roofing, the wives cooking for the whole family.

Nowadays I have Wrestling competitors in their 20s that can lift a ton in the gym, but I (or other guys from my generation and up) can easily overpower them.

They are very sound technically, but when it comes to dogfight, they fold quicker.

It makes me think what would it be to grapple with someone from the times of early emigration to US.
Like a railroad worker.
We do know for a fact, that some of those guys were the best wrestlers, boxers going for hours of fight...

 

[RJ Green]

1. Glad you responded since you're old as fuck

2. Remember that scene in Fight Club where they talk about fighting historical figures? I've always wanted to wrestle Abraham Lincoln. Dude was a renowned badass in what was basically catch wrestling among frontiersman. Seems fun.

It makes me think what would it be to grapple with someone from the times of early emigration to US.
Like a railroad worker.
We do know for a fact, that some of those guys were the best wrestlers, boxers going for hours of fight...

 

[GoodbyeBlueSky82]

I would expect younger guys to be more athletic, explosive, and even pound for pound stronger. But don't underestimate the strength (especially grip) of a man who has worked hard for 20+ years. And if they have weight lifted, they have had more years to steadily gain strength than the young guys have. Most strength and strongman records are set by guys in their 30 and even into 40s for a reason, since strength gains are fairly linear and gradual after the initial entry period of lifting.

 

[Ivaylo Ivanov]

1. Glad you responded since you're old as fuck

2. Remember that scene in Fight Club where they talk about fighting historical figures? I've always wanted to wrestle Abraham Lincoln. Dude was a renowned badass in what was basically catch wrestling among frontiersman. Seems fun.

Oh shut up you dickhead.
You are still bitching about the wine quality of Jesus's birthday...

 

[Ivaylo Ivanov]

Remember that scene in Fight Club where they talk about fighting historical figures? I've always wanted to wrestle Abraham Lincoln. Dude was a renowned badass in what was basically catch wrestling among frontiersman. Seems fun.

Id like to take on Alexander the Great or Plato

 

[shunyata]

1. Glad you responded since you're old as fuck

2. Remember that scene in Fight Club where they talk about fighting historical figures? I've always wanted to wrestle Abraham Lincoln. Dude was a renowned badass in what was basically catch wrestling among frontiersman. Seems fun.

1) Get challenged to a duel as a tall guy.

2) Accept, choose longswords as the weapon.

3) Manlet is suddenly satisfied, and the challenge is withdrawn.






As an aside, Cassius Marcellus Clay was no joke.

Winning 3 on 1 knife fights that started with him getting shot and killing would be assassins well into his elder years.

 

[vcmmafan]

The ceiling of your Grip strength gradually declines with age. That’s not debatable.

But an older man who either:
1. Does a lot of manual labor
or
2. Actively trains their grip strength

will have a better grip strength than lots of young men who don’t train it at all (but the young man will have a MUCH higher ceiling if they actual train)

 

[sb413197]

I think it's more of a disproportionate lack of decline in strength compared to other physical attributes that makes it noticeable. I.e. the older grappler might have lost cardio and flexibility, but still has their strength - so it seems very noticeable when you roll with them "wow that guy is really strong! Stronger than me!" when really he might have been just a way better athlete than the younger guy years ago.