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Meet the 93-year-old who is rewriting the rules of physical activity, why has he become the subject of study?!

2024-01-29 12:39:30Sport SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Meet the 93-year-old who is rewriting the rules of physical activity, why has he

He is a four-time indoor rowing champion and works out forty minutes a day. His heart, lungs and muscles are in great shape even though he is 93 years old.

Irishman Richard Morgan is a former baker and drummer with what he says is a creaky knee. He never played sports professionally and when he turned 73 he started training. That's why it's the subject of new research on aging, published by the Journal of Applied Psychology.

"I started out of nowhere," admitted Morgan, adding that one day he suddenly realized that physical activity gave him great pleasure.

He most often trains in his backyard, and despite starting at a later age, he has rowed the equivalent of ten trips around the world.

It all started when, retired and somewhat lonely, he went to a rowing practice with his nephew, a varsity rower.

"From that moment on, he never stopped," said grandson Lorcan Daly.

How to slow aging is a question that many scientists around the world are grappling with, and Morgan's example intrigued them because he started exercising at such a late age.

"We need to look at very active older people if we want to understand aging," said Bas Van Hooren, a researcher at Maastricht University in the Netherlands and one of the study's authors.

Fortunately, his colleague at Shannon University of Technology in Ireland happened to be Morgan's nephew, Lorcan, who immediately suggested that their main subject of observation should be his grandfather, the 2022 world indoor rowing champion. in the lightweight category 90-94.

They invited Morgan, then 92, to a lab at the University of Limerick in Ireland to learn more about his physical condition. They measured his weight, height, body composition and collected details about his diet. They also checked his heart and lungs and metabolism.

They asked him if he could row two kilometers while they watched.

"It was one of the most inspiring days I've spent in the lab to date," said Philip Jakeman, professor of healthy ageing, physical performance and nutrition, at the University of Limerick, and senior author of the study.

Morgan has proven to be an ageless powerhouse, at 75 kilograms, he is about 80 percent muscle and barely 15 percent fat, a body composition that would be considered healthy even for a man ten years younger.

During the measurement, his heart rate peaked at 153 beats per minute, well above the expected maximum heart rate for his age, and among the highest ever recorded for someone in his 90s, with researchers believing that this shows a very strong heart.

What's most impressive about Morgan is that he developed his exercise routine by following a few simple steps, the researchers noted. It is very important to combine light, moderate and intense exercises during exercise. About 70 percent of the exercises he does are easy, 30 percent are of moderate difficulty, and 10 percent are intense.

Morgan not only trains in rowing, but also uses weights.

A diet based on a large amount of protein is also the reason for his success and excellent health. His diet regularly exceeds the recommended amount of protein, about 60 grams, ideal for his weight.

"This is very interesting research, shedding light on adaptations to exercise over the human lifespan," said Scott Trappe, director of the Human Performance Laboratory at Ball State University in Indiana. He has studied many older athletes, but was not involved in this research.

"We're still learning about starting an exercise program late in life," he added, but the evidence is pretty clear that the human body retains the ability to adapt to exercise at any age.


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