Here's a very brief summary of a report from a paper in The Journals Of Geronotology:
"Small age-related differences in physical activity were observed over most 10-year age spans for both men and women (all age group main effects p < .01). The most notable age-related differences in activity-related outcomes occurred in the 60 and 70 year age groups," and,
"Physical performance was worse with increasing age decade. Although men performed better than women across all ages, the decrement by age group was similar between genders. Worsening physical performance was observed as early as the fifth decade for chair stands and balance and in the sixth decade for gait speed and aerobic endurance. The number and strength of significant associations between physical performance and physical activity (PA) increased with greater age: the greatest number of significant associations was seen in the 60–79 age groups, with fewer reported in the 30–59 and 80–90+ age groups. More PA was associated with better physical function." https://academic.oup.com/biomedgerontology/article/72/4/572/2629941From the paper above it seems that physical performance is on a downward sloping age curve, and that the slope steepens in the 60-79 age groups. Physical activity is a help, but the slope still drops off. I'll soon be 74. I'm feeling the increasing rate drop off. While doing about the same weight training last summer as previous years I needed to reduce the weights due to joint issues. Connective tissue isn't keeping up with bone or muscle. Endurance training was also curtailed due to the joint issues, therefore the hours on the slopes needs to be reduced. A 4 day ski trip starts with a pretty full day, then less than full days, then a half day on the 4th day. (Right kneecap bone on femur bone is the main problem but not the only problem. A full replacement isn't too far off in the future. I'll likely have it done by Dr. Craig McAllister using his SwiftPath method.
https://swiftpath.com/about/)
Harald has often commented that PMTS is very efficient skiing, great results without wasted effort. I'm appreciating that more and more.
I've skied with Harald's father. Great skier, great gentleman. Harald said that he put his dad on short skis, 160-something, to slow him down. It didn't work.