Virtually every Saturday, Joe McCormick, 71, laces up his high-top sneakers and joins about 10 fellow basketball junkies for a weekly, full-court pickup game in the District of Columbia. He’s typically joined at the gym by his kid brother Tom, who’s 67. For two hours, with brief breaks between games, they run, cut and jump, competing with players in their age group and also decades younger.
Scott Hanson, 56, of Scottsdale, Arizona, shares the McCormicks’ love of sports; his game is baseball (regulation hardball, not softball). Hanson plays first base twice a week in a 45-and-over league from April through September, and in January, attends the Arizona Diamondbacks’ fantasy baseball camp.
The McCormicks and Hanson are determined to continue playing as long as their bodies cooperate. A couple of years ago, Joe McCormick sat out for 10 months as he dealt with two ruptured discs that made it hard for him to move. He eventually returned for the start of a new season wearing an old Saturday morning group basketball T-shirt that says “10 More Years.” His brother Tom says, “I used to say I will stop when I can no longer play well — hit the open shot, drive past my defender, stop my opponent — but I’ve gradually defined the bar way lower.” Though he’s endured seven surgeries related to playing three sports in high school and beyond and serving as a referee and umpire for football and baseball games, respectively, Hanson plans on playing “as long as my knees and back allow me to play. I’ll keep playing, umpiring and refereeing until my body tells me to stop.”
Some men exercise less as they transition from middle age to their senior years. But men like the McCormicks and Hanson who play a sport in middle age — from ages 40 to 59 — are more likely to remain physically active into their senior years, according to new research published in September in BMJ Open. The study tracked the exercise levels of 3,413 men over a span of up to 20 years. Men who were active in middle age were nearly three times as likely to remain active in their senior years, the study found. Men who played sports for 25 years or more were almost five times as likely to be exercising in their senior years than men who didn’t engage in sports, the study found. “Playing [a] sport in mid-life was more strongly associated with being active at 20-year follow-up than other domains, particularly when sport participation began earlier in life,” the study says.
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The correlation between playing a sport in middle age and remaining active later in life makes sense, says Dr. Chris Wolf, sports medicine and regenerative orthopedic specialist at Bluetail Medical Group in Chesterfield, Missouri. Middle-age and older men “are more likely to remain active if they are doing something they enjoy,” Wolf says. Getting regular exercise is important for the well-being of middle-age and older men; physical activity can help reduce the risk of an array of health problems, such as cancer, obesity, heart disease, stroke, hypertension, depression, diabetes and joint pain related to being overweight, he says.
“I wouldn’t be in any kind of shape and would be 20 to 30 pounds heavier if I didn’t play hoops,” Tom McCormick says. “I only eat rationally and somewhat healthily to not be too heavy for hoops. I bike some, partly because I live in a beautiful setting on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, but mostly to be in better cardio shape for hoops.”
Whether your play a team sport or an individual one, or are trying to find the right game for you in middle age or your senior years, experts and pickup athletes recommend these strategies:
1. Don’t stop playing solely because of your age. Some men give up their favorite sport because they think they’re too old to keep playing, Wolf says. “That’s probably the worst thing you can do,” he says. “If you stop doing something you love, you’re probably not going to immediately find something else you enjoy as much, and you’ll become more sedentary. Men shouldn’t feel like they’re ‘aging out’ of a sport.” That’s not to say you can compete at the same level and for as long as you did in your 20s and 30s. You can accommodate your body and remain active with some adjustments, Wolf says. If full-court basketball takes too much of a toll on your feet or knees, try playing half-court. If playing tennis for 90 minutes causes your joints to ache, try hitting for an hour or 30 minutes instead. You can also cut down on the frequency of your play, Wolf advises.
[See: The 10 Best Exercises You Can Do for the Rest of Your Life.]
2. Engage in activities that help you play sports. Practicing flexibility or strength training can help you stay in optimal shape to play your sport and “help fight the aging process,” Wolf says. He sometimes advises patients to lift weights or engage in other types of strength training or to do yoga to increase flexibility to help them play their sport. “I tell them that’s their medicine, their pill that allows them to play pickup basketball or pickup hockey,” he says. Some men initially roll their eyes when he advises them to practice yoga, Wolf says. “A couple of months later, they’re doing it twice a week because they like it,” he says.
3. Check out parks and recreation programs, private leagues and sports organizations. Local parks and recreation departments and private leagues are good places to find sports-playing opportunities, says Angie Fifer, an executive board member at the Association for Applied Sport Psychology, based in Indianapolis. For example, Bruce Mendelsohn, 49, of Millbury, Massachussetts, plays for the Boston Maccabi Rugby Football Club in the New England Rugby Football Union. He started playing rugby — which is roughly like American football without the pads and helmets — in college and in the Army nearly 30 years ago. And Daniel Collins, 55, fences in a league in the Baltimore area. He took up the sport after he graduated from college and has held rankings in foil, saber and epee (different styles of fencing) despite having undergone two spinal surgeries and one elbow operation. Fencing has helped him stay in good physical condition, he says.
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4. Enjoy the social aspect of your sport. One of the positive aspects of playing a sport is that competing makes you accountable and less likely to miss a workout, Fifer says. “When you’re participating in a sport, it’s not just about you, it’s about your team,” she says. You may not feel like exercising on a particular day, but you don’t want to let down the guys waiting for you on the basketball court or on the soccer field, so you gear up and show up, she says. The same holds true for men who engage in individual sports like tennis or running. “The accountability piece is huge,” Fifer says. “If someone is going to show up early to meet you for a workout, you don’t want to let him or her down.” Playing sports also helps you develop and deepen friendships, which research shows is good for your health. “There’s nothing like playing with friends as part of a team, where you’re part of a common effort,” Tom McCormick says. “Teammates mutter ‘nice play’ if you give them a good pass. Nobody ever said ‘great sit-up’ at the gym.”
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Middle-Aged Men: If You Want to Stay Active Into Your Senior Years, Play a Sport originally appeared on usnews.com
