Age when speed and jumping ability starts to decline, what do you guys think?

[sports19]

At what age does your speed and vertical leap really start to diminish? I am guessing late 30s but I am curious as to what you guys think and possibly if anyone with actual experience can chime in on this. I am curious because if you have never lifted weights or worked on plyos I am curious if you could still get faster. Lets say you were a decent athlete your whole life and played some competitive sports through out your 20s and 30s, you never trained with weights just relied on good ol jogging outside, never had a good strength base and had a typical diet. Once you hit late 30s if you start doing squats and plyos and other training correctly with the right amount of rest and everything you could possibly be even faster then when you were in your 20s but untrained right?

[note2self]

Been wondering this too. I'm only 23 but feel like my jumping ability and speed has decrease a bit since when I was 17-20. I can barely jump off of one foot now....

[sports19]

nobody has any idea?

[Heiber]

depends completely on workout habits and physical condition but probably late 30s

although the fastest runner is like 24.. usain bolt, fastest swimmer is also like 25 or so

[kfisherx]

I am faster in my 40s than I was in my 20s. I did not lift in my 20s and only started doing deads and glute strengthening work in my 40s. Increasing those muscles allowed me to have more speed than youth alone could give me.

So I think the answer is a big fat... It depends. If you allow natural muscle atrophy process to happen as you age, then speed is gonna decline with that process... If you can actually keep the muscles and/or add muscle, why can you not increase speed with age?

The thing you will not be able to fix as you age (without drugs) is recovery time. I take my rest days much more seriously than I did when I was young.

[floodster]

At what age does your speed and vertical leap really start to diminish? I am guessing late 30s but I am curious as to what you guys think and possibly if anyone with actual experience can chime in on this. I am curious because if you have never lifted weights or worked on plyos I am curious if you could still get faster. Lets say you were a decent athlete your whole life and played some competitive sports through out your 20s and 30s, you never trained with weights just relied on good ol jogging outside, never had a good strength base and had a typical diet. Once you hit late 30s if you start doing squats and plyos and other training correctly with the right amount of rest and everything you could possibly be even faster then when you were in your 20s but untrained right?

Speaking from experience my vertical has decreased since my late thirties. It's quite humbling to go from have some decent hops to barely getting off of the ground.
I guess we all have to get old sometime.

[mktcycler]

I trained with plyos in my early 40s to get back to about a 28" vertical. This was roughly equal to what I jumped when relatively untrained (some plyos, no weights) when in my 20s and early 30s. Sadly, though, a rapid decline in vert jump started at about age 45 (I had kids later in life, and with family duties I no longer had time for gym training or strenuous sports). I started getting back into the gym again at age 54, but even now after about 1 year of fairly diligent weights+plyos training I have not been able to train back up past about a 14 inch vert. Oddly, my overall strength when lifting heavy is better than ever before. But despite gains in slow pushing/lift strength, my leg muscles just don't have much snap/bounce to them anymore. I am now age 55. Age in ID bar at left is incorrect. Getting old sucks.

[lucia316]

I trained with plyos in my early 40s to get back to about a 28" vertical. This was roughly equal to what I jumped when relatively untrained (some plyos, no weights) when in my 20s and early 30s. Sadly, though, a rapid decline in vert jump started at about age 45 (I had kids later in life, and with family duties I no longer had time for gym training or strenuous sports). I started getting back into the gym again at age 54, but even now after about 1 year of fairly diligent weights+plyos training I have not been able to train back up past about a 14 inch vert. Oddly, my overall strength when lifting heavy is better than ever before. But despite gains in slow pushing/lift strength, my leg muscles just don't have much snap/bounce to them anymore. I am now age 55. Age in ID bar at left is incorrect. Getting old sucks.

Thank goodness you posted. I'm sure OP is still trying to figure this one out 8 years later.