What age are you at your "Physical Prime" and "Fighting Prime"?

Legendary

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Not talking about 185 and higher because they are old as shit, this is mainly referring to 125-170.

It has always been said that around your late twenties to early 30s is your" Fighting Prime" meaning you are still physically there, even though maybe your sprints and 1RM may not be as high, you have balanced it out with your fight experience.

Perfect example is Shogun. He was much more technical by the time he fought Machida, but the 25 year old PRIDE version of him was stronger and faster then the 30 year old version.

What age do you start falling out your Physical Prime? What age do you start falling from your "Fighting Prime"?

The lower the weight class, the younger they are. Speed is the first attribute to go, and the smaller classes rely on it more then the bigger guys.

They have measured NFL players 40 times, and their 40 times when they were in college, and many guys lose a few tenths of a second by the time they have been in the NFL for a few years. 22 years old vs 30 years old
 
28

I, like anyone else replying to this thread, am basing this off of absolutely nothing.
 
There's no general age, the younger you hit your prime the younger you'll leave it.

Look at Aldo, he's only 31 years old but he has been training and competing for 5 round fights against championship caliber opposition since he was 23 years old. I'm not saying he's past his prime as in lost any skill, because the Frankie fight showed that the skill definitely is still there, but the accumulation of damage has started to catch up and he's not as durable as he once was.
 
It varies for everybody. There is not one specific scientic answer.

Testosterone probably peaks around 18 but at that age there is less wisdom, experience and maturity.

Michael Bisping is in his prime at 38. Not sure if that is physical but he's fighting at this best. The wins against Silva and Rockhold are the highlights of his career by far. Most fighters will peak at a much younger age.
 
27-33 probably, if you start young like Rory Mac

But if you start older it can be as late as 35-38, i.e Yoel Romero, Jimi Manuwa etc.
 
GSP1978 said:
It varies for everybody. There is not one specific scientic answer.

Testosterone probably peaks around 18 but at that age there is less wisdom, experience and maturity.

Michael Bisping is in his prime at 38. Not sure if that is physical but he's fighting at this best. The wins against Silva and Rockhold are the highlights of his career by far. Most fighters will peak at a much younger age.
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Agreed. It peaks at 18 but doesn't drop off until your 30s. Also most 18 year old have not 100% physically matured yet.
 
In the NFL you're considered an old running back by the age of 28, an old receiver by the age of 32, and an old quarterback by the age of 35.
In short, it depends how much of a beating you take in your career. RBs take non-stop hits every time they touch the ball, and even when they don't touch the ball. WRs get smashed half a dozen times a game but that's it. QBs in the pocket are protected from real hits the most of out of any NFL position.

Guys like Big Nog lost his fighting prime in his 20s because of how much damage he took, but Anderson and GSP who took almost no damage lasted longer.

The general rule of thumb I use isn't age but how long you've fighting elite competition. Once you hit 9-10 years of elite competition in MMA, you're on the way out.
 
20falarVerdades said:
27-33 probably, if you start young like Rory Mac

But if you start older it can be as late as 35-38, i.e Yoel Romero, Jimi Manuwa etc.
Click to expand...

Good point. Jimi, Yoel, and Randy all started well into their 30s. They are also at higher weight classes though.
 
To find the age of peak performance in every sport you don't need hard equations, you simply need to do the arithmetic mean of the ages of the top athletes.

Just from a quick look, the average top 10-15 mma fighter is around 30-32 years old, and the heavier the division the older the top fighters get.
 
Legendary said:
Not talking about 185 and higher because they are old as shit, this is mainly referring to 125-170.

It has always been said that around your late twenties to early 30s is your" Fighting Prime" meaning you are still physically there, even though maybe your sprints and 1RM may not be as high, you have balanced it out with your fight experience.

Perfect example is Shogun. He was much more technical by the time he fought Machida, but the 25 year old PRIDE version of him was stronger and faster then the 30 year old version.

What age do you start falling out your Physical Prime? What age do you start falling from your "Fighting Prime"?

The lower the weight class, the younger they are. Speed is the first attribute to go, and the smaller classes rely on it more then the bigger guys.

They have measured NFL players 40 times, and their 40 times when they were in college, and many guys lose a few tenths of a second by the time they have been in the NFL for a few years. 22 years old vs 30 years old
Click to expand...
Yes. From all the research I've done when I used to train heavily, 29 is the peak for natural T levels/body performance capability etc.

Everything starts to go downhill from there.
 
Bubblun said:
To find the age of peak performance in every sport you don't need hard equations, you simply need to do the arithmetic mean of the ages of the top athletes.

Just from a quick look, the average top 10-15 mma fighter is around 30-32 years old, and the heavier the division the older the top fighters get.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but if you have a few 35+ guys like Pyle or Maia, its going to skew the average. It will also go down as weight goes down. Look at all the 22-26 year old guys are at 125-145
 
Depends on a lot of factors: when you started fighting, how much damage you take, your lifestyle between training camps, etc.


For 125-170, physically the prime is between 25-30, but in combat sports it's not always your 'physical' prime which determines your peak.
 
Megalodon said:
There's no general age, the younger you hit your prime the younger you'll leave it.

Look at Aldo, he's only 31 years old but he has been training and competing for 5 round fights against championship caliber opposition since he was 23 years old. I'm not saying he's past his prime as in lost any skill, because the Frankie fight showed that the skill definitely is still there, but the accumulation of damage has started to catch up and he's not as durable as he once was.
Click to expand...

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