Setting New Fitness Records at 100+

When I first saw the news stories of the French cyclist who had set a cycling record for sixty minutes, I wasn’t particularly impressed — that is, until I realized that Mr. Robert Marchand is now age 105 and he’s trying to break his own record of almost 17 miles per hour, set when he was 103.  Turns out this is part of a much larger story about fitness in aging.  From the New York Times:  

At the age of 105, the French amateur cyclist and world-record holder Robert Marchand is more aerobically fit than most 50-year-olds — and appears to be getting even fitter as he ages, according to a revelatory new study of his physiology.

 

The study, which appeared in December in the Journal of Applied Physiology, may help to rewrite scientific expectations of how our bodies age and what is possible for any of us athletically, no matter how old we are.

For more, read Lessons on Aging Well, From a 105 Year-Old Cyclist.  Inspiration for your own weekend workout, perhaps!