Aging weakens athletes' energy

MANILA, Philippines - Athletes, no matter how fit and strong they may be in their youth, still undergo physical and physiological changes as they age. This is especially true when they hit their late 20s to mid 30s.

“Based on my personal experience, I felt my metabolism slow down, then I started gaining weight unlike when I was younger when it was hard for me to gain weight at all. There was also an obvious decrease in my muscle mass if I forgot to exercise; the loss of energy was also difficult to ignore,” shares Coach Jim Saret, the training coach of the country’s top three sports teams — the Smart Gilas basketball team, the Philippine swimming team, and the Philippine boxing team.

For someone who has been physically fit all his life, Saret says the game really changes when one reaches his or her late 20s.

“Basically, both men and women see a decline in their androgen and growth hormones with aging. In relation to that, somatopause is approximately experienced by both male and female at around the same rate. It just differs in some ways, though. For example, testosterone levels decrease in men when they hit their late 20s to early 30s,” he says.

“Women also experience somatopause in their 30s, but it doesn’t show that much because the hormone estrogen in women may be slowing down the rate of decline in the female’s growth hormone associated with aging,” he adds.

This does not mean, though, that one should easily give in to the changes that growing old brings.

As Saret himself exemplifies, staying younger inside and out can be achieved with the help of proper nutrition, an effective fitness regimen and taking a good and effective multi-vitamin supplement like Immuvit.

“The active ingredients in Immuvit can help one stay fit and healthy as one gets older,” says Saret, who holds an MS in Sports Medicine from Brigham Young University in the United States.

He says: “The two ginsengs in Immuvit help revitalize my body as well as increase my resistance to physical, chemical, and biological stress. It also gives me a much-needed energy boost that increases my vitality.”

“CoQ10, on the other hand, plays a key role in producing energy as well as cell growth and maintenance. It is also a potent antioxidant, which protects the body from damage caused by free radicals,” he adds.

Saret, who is also currently the president of the Scientific Sports and Fitness Council and the training director of the Advanced Performance Enhancement Training, has likewise devised a program that complements the benefits he gets from Immuvit: MetaFit, a short but intense workout program that enables one to burn up to 600 calories in just four minutes of exercise.

“This exercise is typically anaerobic in nature — meaning you don’t use too much oxygen in order to complete this type of exercise. It’s a series of short-burst, high-intensity exercise routines that help stimulate the release of growth hormones in your body, which helps you combat the symptoms of somatopause,” he says.

MetaFit has, in fact, been proven to be one of the very few workout programs that can stimulate the release of growth hormones in the body.

Saret likewise suggests making certain lifestyle modifications for one to stay “young.”

“Quit smoking and drinking, and avoid staying out late at night and not getting enough sleep. All these gradually destroy your body and definitely make you age faster. Practice having a healthier lifestyle,” he says.

After all, Saret concludes: “Whether we’re athletes or not, as we get older, our bodies can’t take the same beating it got when we were younger.”