Still Fast But A Lot Slower
If you look at men or women from the ages of 18-80 and examine the shortening velocity of their musculature you may be tremendously surprised to find that age has no effect on how quickly a muscle can change its length or V max.
With aging there is a decrease in maximal force and power due to the loss of muscle mass and not to the unloaded shortening velocity.
A loss of force and power makes it difficult in the ageing process to perform multi-joint movements, which eventually lead to a loss of mobility.
In future blogs we will explore what happens to muscle as a result of training and discuss the implications of a muscle’s ability to shorten at a fast rate which is unaffected over decades. The current information may change many coaches’ and athletes’ view of strength training.
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Photo Courtesy of Kathy Leistner
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