Wednesday December 11, 2024
By the evening edition.
Irish nonagenarian Richard Morgan is an example of longevity and healthy aging, according to a study. Between daily rowing, weight training and protein intake, we reveal his routine.
Do you want to know the secrets of its shape? At 93, Richard Morgan, a former baker living in Ireland, is a quadruple world rowing champion even though he only started the discipline at the age of 70. His case was the subject of a study published in the prestigious in the prestigious Journal of Applied Physiology . His diet, sports training and physiology have been scrutinized by scientists. “We need to focus on very active older people if we want to understand aging,” explain to Washington Post Bas Van Hooren, doctoral researcher at Maastricht University in the Netherlands and one of the authors of the study.
The results are inspiring: the nonagenarian has the heart, muscles and lungs of a person half his age. Weighing 76 kg, his body is 80% muscle and 15% fat. His heart rate is equivalent to that of a 40-year-old man: during a 2,000-meter rowing test, it peaked at 153 beats per minute, well above the maximum heart rate expected for his age and among the peaks the highest ever recorded for a 90-year-old.
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“The human body can adapt to exercise at any age”
But what impressed researchers the most was the fact that Richard Morgan took up sport late in life. “This is an interesting case study that sheds light on our understanding of adaptation to exercise across the lifespan,” says Scott Trappe, director of the Human Performance Laboratory at Ball State University in Indiana, who has analyzed the cases of many older athletes.
Scientists have learned a fundamental lesson from this: the human body adapts to intense sporting activity, whatever the age. “We are still learning how to start an exercise program in old age, but the evidence clearly shows that the human body retains its ability to adapt to exercise at any age,” observe Scott Trappe.
Muscle loss linked to aging is therefore not inevitable. The geriatrician Christophe de Jaeger also recommended, to our colleagues in Doctissimo, to start taking care of your muscle mass from the age of 50 in order to prevent the effects of old age.
Read also: Here are the four keys to living a long life, according to researchers
Forty minutes of rowing a day, strength training and lots of protein
If you want to have the same physical shape, opt for Richard Morgan's routine! It consists of forty minutes of rowing a day, two or three times a week, weight training and a high protein diet, because its daily consumption regularly exceeds the usual nutritional recommendation of around 60 grams of protein for a person of his weight, teaches us Washington Post. “Exercise could therefore help us build and maintain a strong and efficient body, whatever our age,” summarizes Philip Jakeman, professor of healthy aging, physical performance and nutrition at the University of Limerick and lead author of the study.
