Forever Athletic: Why Former Athletes Should Continue Training Like Athletes

Many former athletes eventually find themselves asking the same question:

What happened?

At one point, they felt strong, capable, and confident in their bodies. They could sprint, jump, change direction, recover quickly, and participate in demanding physical activities without much thought. Years later, many find themselves dealing with stiffness, recurring aches and pains, decreased energy, and a growing sense that their bodies no longer move the way they once did.

The common explanation is age. It is wrong!

While aging certainly influences physical performance, the scientific literature suggests that much of what people attribute to aging is actually the result of detraining—the gradual loss of physical qualities that are no longer being challenged. In other words, many former athletes do not simply become less athletic because they get older. They become less athletic because they stop training the qualities that made them athletic in the first place.

Athleticism Is a Collection of Trainable Qualities

Athleticism is often viewed as something people either have or do not have. From a performance perspective, however, athleticism is simply the combination of several physical qualities that can be developed and maintained through training.

Strength, power, aerobic fitness, mobility, coordination, balance, and muscular endurance all contribute to athletic performance. Research consistently demonstrates that these qualities decline with age when they are not trained, but can be preserved—and in many cases improved—well into middle age and beyond through appropriately prescribed exercise (American College of Sports Medicine, 2021).

The body adapts to the demands placed upon it. When those demands disappear, adaptation moves in the opposite direction. This principle explains why someone who was once a competitive swimmer, water polo player, runner, or football player can feel dramatically different twenty years later despite still being physically active.

Activity alone is not the same thing as training.

The Difference Between Exercise and Training

Many adults continue to exercise throughout their lives. They hike, surf, bike, attend fitness classes, or occasionally visit the gym. These activities provide meaningful health benefits and should absolutely be encouraged.

Training is different.

Training involves a structured process designed to improve specific physical qualities. It follows a progression, includes measurable objectives, and evolves based on performance and recovery. Athletes train because they are trying to improve something. Former athletes who wish to remain capable, resilient, and physically confident should continue training for the same reason.

The goal is no longer winning championships or earning a starting position. The goal becomes preserving the physical capacity to continue doing the things that make life enjoyable.

Why Strength Remains the Foundation

One of the most consistent findings in sports science is that strength underpins nearly every other aspect of physical performance.

A landmark review by Suchomel and colleagues (2016) concluded that muscular strength is strongly associated with sprint performance, jumping ability, change-of-direction speed, and overall athletic success. Beyond performance, strength is also associated with improved physical function, reduced fall risk, and greater independence as individuals age.

For this reason, compound exercises continue to serve as the foundation of many well-designed programs. Movements such as squats, deadlifts, presses, rows, carries, and pull-ups allow individuals to develop meaningful strength while training multiple muscle groups simultaneously. These exercises are efficient, highly transferable, and scalable across a wide range of abilities.

Importantly, maintaining strength is not solely about preserving muscle mass. It is about maintaining the capacity to interact with the world confidently and effectively. Whether carrying luggage through an airport, hiking steep trails, surfing larger waves, or playing with children and grandchildren, strength provides the foundation.

Why Power May Matter Even More

While strength receives much of the attention, power may be even more important for long-term athleticism.

Power refers to the ability to produce force quickly. It influences jumping, sprinting, reacting, changing direction, and recovering balance after a stumble. Research suggests that power declines earlier and more rapidly than strength as we age (Cormie et al., 2011).

This is one reason many former athletes feel less athletic even if they continue lifting weights. They may maintain some level of strength while losing the ability to move explosively.

Training methods such as plyometrics, medicine ball throws, jumping, sprinting, and complex training help address this decline. These methods challenge the nervous system to produce force rapidly and preserve the qualities associated with athletic movement.

The objective is not necessarily to become faster than everyone else.

The objective is to maintain the ability to move powerfully and confidently throughout life.

Why Testing Matters

One of the defining characteristics of athletic training is objective measurement.

Athletes rarely rely solely on how they feel. They measure progress. They assess performance. They identify weaknesses and make adjustments.

Many adults stop doing this entirely.

Objective testing provides valuable feedback about the effectiveness of a training program and helps guide future decisions. Depending on the individual, this may include strength assessments, vertical jump testing, movement assessments, aerobic fitness evaluations, or VO₂ max testing.

Testing transforms exercise from a collection of workouts into a purposeful process. It creates accountability, reveals progress that may otherwise go unnoticed, and ensures that training remains individualized rather than generic.

The Same Principles Used With Olympians

Throughout my career as a strength coach, exercise scientist, and professor, I have had the opportunity to work with individuals across a wide spectrum of performance levels, including youth athletes, collegiate athletes, adults seeking to improve their health, and Olympians.

What continues to stand out is how similar the foundational principles remain.

Elite athletes train strength. They train power. They prioritize movement quality. They measure progress. They follow structured programs and remain consistent over long periods of time.

There are no secret exercises.

There is simply intelligent programming, consistent effort, and a commitment to developing the qualities that matter most.

The same principles that help an Olympian perform at the highest level can help a former athlete continue surfing, skiing, hiking, golfing, competing recreationally, and living an active life for decades.

The Forever Athletic Philosophy

Being Forever Athletic is not about trying to recreate your athletic career.

It is about preserving the physical qualities that allow you to fully engage in life.

It means continuing to train with purpose. It means valuing strength, power, mobility, and aerobic fitness. It means viewing physical capability as something worth investing in, not something that inevitably disappears with age.

At Unbroken Health & Fitness, this evidence-based approach guides programming for everyone from former athletes and busy professionals to collegiate competitors and Olympians. Structured strength training, power development, objective testing, and individualized coaching remain central because they consistently produce meaningful results.

In the coming months, I will be opening opportunities for former athletes in Santa Barbara to train using many of these same principles in a coached, small-group environment.

Because athleticism does not have to end when competition does.

And if trained intentionally, it may last far longer than most people think.

References

American College of Sports Medicine. ACSM's Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription. 11th ed., Wolters Kluwer, 2021.

Cormie, P., McGuigan, M. R., and Newton, R. U. "Developing Maximal Neuromuscular Power: Part 1 and Part 2." Sports Medicine, vol. 41, no. 1, 2011, pp. 17–38 and 125–146.

Suchomel, T. J., Nimphius, S., and Stone, M. H. "The Importance of Muscular Strength in Athletic Performance." Sports Medicine, vol. 46, no. 10, 2016, pp. 1419–1449.