proprioception degrades with age, strength training is the counter.
(from "younger next year")
(from "younger next year")
When you start skating older you have to pad up, I combined that with a slackboard and just standing on one leg with my eyes closed.
I went from feeling like an old man to now when I am basically impossible to knock over, my nervous system can catch me before I even realize it, at 15mph, when one foot strikes a rock, walking is now no problem, and sometimes I even sit on the floor without any old man groaning when I stand up.
Also, tall box step ups (like 2ft), which is very tall, no back risk like weighted bar workouts.
You have to pad up and go easy, it's a multi year process to get enough low impact reps up to build joint health, when you're older injuries are a real setback.
Rollerblading is like bouldering for your legs and feet at speed, very fun, with an infinite progression curve that you can train at your own pace.
> Key Points
> - Improvements in joint position sense can be attained via standard strength-training exercises.
> - Performing resistance exercises at consistent intensity rather than varying intensity resulted in better proprioception performance.
So just any activity will do, as long as you like it enough to do it regularly.
The rest is refinement.
Ordinary running doesn't do that, though there is a practice called "fartlek" (literally, speed-play) where you do random bursts of speed. It used to be considered excellent cross training, though I haven't heard the term in a while. (Perhaps because the name is unintentionally hilarious.)
But I'm the oldest one there, and I always cover the slowest person on the other team. I don't do collisions or jousts. I often just kind of hover behind the play on offense because I need to catch my breath.
Now, can I still do that at 80? Probably not. At 90? Almost certainly no. At some point, I'm going to have to hang it up. But today is not that day...
Systemic and muscular vitality is optimized when you get cardio, resistance, and bounding/dynamic movement. Heart, slow twitch, and fast twitch.
Strength training and controlled cardio is much better for continuous health.