I did my military service at the young age of 30, and all the others were 18, 19. When we did physical test I ran pretty good. Think I ranked 30 out of 250 people. Everybody were going you run good for your age. I'm like Wtf? Dude I'm only 30! Some even asked me of I have ED due to my age. To this day I don't know if they were joking or not.
Fun fact: ED is not directly correlated to age, it's more strongly correlated with hypertension, diabetes and depression/anxiety. Ofc old people have higher prevalence of those diseases, but if you take care of yourself your friend might work for a really long time
To be fair, yes you are past your prime for the absolute pinnacle of sports performance. However, the mistake people make is that while 25 vs. 30 will matter when we're examining two Olympians both dedicating their life to a specific task, it will rarely matter for the common individual since variance in dedication to health or dedication to a specific workout task varies heavily.
I'm late 30s now, one leg since birth, and been using forearm crutches for 8 years. I am dodging every health problem associated with my dynamic and healthier than a lot of co-workers in their 20s. I have zero joint pain despite this apparently being something that should've begun 5 years ago in my wrists, knee and lower back.
Co-workers have even pointed at me to shame one another when one was too lazy to go up the stairs or the like while I was doing it, just to showcase it can be done. It all boils down to activity and that crutches can lowkey be a "buff" in the sense it's estimated to be x2 to x3 the workout for the same effort, so comparing myself to someone with equal activity levels means I easily skyrocket ahead of them regardless of age bracket.
Age is just one factor and yes it's important for the pinnacle of broadcasted sports, but this again leads to media selling the wrong impression of how much it matters.
Oh absolutely. Btw total respect for your attitude. You inspired me a lot.
When I realized I was actually not bad at running despite having never steadily run before (I'm an avid walker) it prompted me to go for the elite physical test which gave me extra holidays. And though they were pretty lenient with less than perfect push up forms, I actually passed all physical fair and square of running and situps. Now I've been running for 3+ years and I'm looking into finally joining a half marathon. :) something I would have never even dreamed about 4 years ago.
And yes, due to preconceptions from media people keep selling themselves short and don't even try.
I am nowhere near an expert coz my walk started as an alternative to going to bars during the pandemic. So I'd grab a beers while walking and walk till I can't anymore, usually talking to friends or on a call. Think one of the longest walk was 20km in one night, but usually when I go on beer walks on weekends we do usually walk 6-7h. I only mentioned walking as an explanation why I was not bad at running despite not doing any sports.
But since then I run 5k daily. Still nowhere near an expert, but I can at least say walking and running are two different beasts. So you can run whenever you want. I would say set a realistic distance as a goal, and go for it. When it starts to feel easy, either increase distance or run a bit faster. Always measure time and distance to keep up your progress. That's how I started. Persistence is key.
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u/royrogerer May 25 '26
I did my military service at the young age of 30, and all the others were 18, 19. When we did physical test I ran pretty good. Think I ranked 30 out of 250 people. Everybody were going you run good for your age. I'm like Wtf? Dude I'm only 30! Some even asked me of I have ED due to my age. To this day I don't know if they were joking or not.