Why are the male masters runners so muscular?

It is definitely a combination of things, all of which were hit on here.

- We all tend to gain weight as we get older, and for fitter people, that is often converted to muscle. Even as a skinny distance runner, I have added weight. Entered college at 130 (at 5' 8"), left at 140 and at age 47, my walking around weight is 150-155 and my marathon racing weight is 145. I just cant get down to 140 again without counterproductively starving myself.

- Many successful older athletes are successful because they do the "little things" like weight training that keep them healthy and in the mix. It may not be optimal from a race weight perspective, but one of the biggest reasons why the best masters runners are the best masters runners is that they are still training consistently and racing. Largely, the best athletes from their primes are all out of the sport for one reason or another, but the guys who managed to stay in it are often a little less talented, but more dedicated. I came at it from a different approach - I still don't lift at all or stretch or do any of the little things, but I took off some of my 20s and almost all of my 30s and I ended up with relatively "fresh" legs. When I came back, instead of being an above-average runner (14:19 in college), I have been in the mix to win the masters title at most of the races I have entered (4 world major marathons - 7th masters (2nd American), 1st masters; 3rd age group (first American); 1st age group (5th masters)). It isn't because I was a national class talent, it was because the national class talent from my era can't be bothered to stay in the sport or because they couldn't stay healthy enough. While I "saved my miles" to get back into things, many other masters runners stay in it through lifting.

- TRT is happening and it is widespread. Purely an opinion and I can only point to articles and other anecdotal evidence, but I believe it is happening notwithstanding the testing. When I go for my annual physical, my GP always asks if I want to include a blood test for T levels. I decline because I know I wouldn't do TRT even if my T levels are low because I am going to race clean; but the point is that it would literally be almost effortless for me to get on TRT. And there is very little testing. Sure, you might get tested at national and international masters championship, but not every masters athlete is interested in racing those events. I have never raced them. And other than that, testing is rare, especially for age groupers. I have won a masters title at the USA 15k championships (the open championship at Gate River Run, not any masters championship) and won money another time. Plus I won money twice at world major marathons. But I came in between 30th and 100th overall at those races - no one was grabbing the 99th place finisher at the Chicago Marathon out of line to randomly test him.

Moo Goo wrote:

Lifting makes up aging of the muscles to some degree. That is my guess. I don't think lifting helps much when in 20 and early 30s because there is a ceiling effect as to how much strength helps running. You really don't need that much and if you're just naturally strong, you probably don't need strength training. But for older runners, old dying muscles are enhanced by lifting weights. This is just my guess.

I have a friend who got more into lifting weight after turning masters for fitness and not for running performance. He is more jacked now than when he was in his prime. He just ran 1:24 half at 64. I don't think he is even training 1/3 the intensity and the miles that he used to in his prime.

I love all the feedback with strength work. I am bias and have been strength training on a very regular basis since 14. HS Football and being a sprinter set that base line, and I've kept it rolling ever since. Clearly, not the same weights as my 19 year old self but all the same lifts.

I do disagree that lifting doesn't help you in your younger days. I am 31, nearing 32, and I can already point out the runners who don't lift who are in my age group. More overuse injuries, and generally a lack of muscle tone. Big aerobic engines and little to no lean muscle. Without setting a base line of strength in your younger years, I'd imagine 35-40+ it's no going to get easier.

The amount of volume doesn't have to be high either. 10-15 minutes, 2-4x a week, body weight, bands, standard weights, kettle bells, whatever works for ya, find a way to get it in!

Hope to be the 70 year old runner out there one day.

The good masters runners are NOT muscular. This is a picture of the best amateur master in the country. He is built just like Rupp.

https://static.wixstatic.com/media/504a78_1222f2209935431aa0ab6766dc426bf4.png/v1/fill/w_619,h_488,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01/504a78_1222f2209935431aa0ab6766dc426bf4.webp

Oatmeal and dates wrote:

I’m considering trying to become competitive in the 50+ age category for mid distance. I just watched the masters world indoor championships, and it appears me the men are very muscular for their age. I understand many of the guys will be lifting as well as running. What I’d like to know is, are many of the guys on T? I know low T is a thing now and easy to get. I don’t want to go that route, but if everyone is on T does a “clean” athlete have a chance. Of course like everyone, avoiding injury is the main talent at this age. I’m sure T helps with this also.

Any masters athletes have any experience with this?

I don't want to go down the T route either. I feel better now than I did a few years ago, a state of mind I suppose?

All fast runners look muscular because they have low bodyfat and high muscle tension.

I agree that avoiding injury is a talent... for every runner young or old.

Young runners are cut but skinny.

You gain weight as you age.

So if you are cut and heavier then it is a more muscular look.

I always appreciate your insight, and if I recall, you had a hell of a Chicago Marathon last fall.

Past 50, would you consider strength work? You have a huge base from your college days which can't be discredited either, and clearly something is working just fine for ya in present day!

What's your biggest emphasis these days leading up to a race? All the best to ya.

Older fellows who are cut, lean, aggressive, we all know them. They're juicing. They might not admit it but they absolutely are. I work with a large number of men in their 50s and you can tell the juicers from 50 feet away. The proof is in their demeanor, which tends to be edgy, aggressive, focused in a way that the other 50-somethings don't have anymore.

I don't get it. Higher T levels are linked with more cancer are they not? Doing well on the local race scene? Hoping to attract more/younger women? There is something wrong at the level of ego with the juicers. Aging this way denies the natural progression of the body and mind. I'm 54 and I do NOT want to be pumped, pimped, strutting like a peacock anymore. I just want to ease into the aging process, wrinkles, sags and all.

Thanks, I did have a great-for-me Chicago this year. Won my 45-49 age group, 5th place masters for a pay day, and a small PR at 2:30:45.

I am not ruling out strength work, but I am not sure that I will do it. I am honestly just really lazy when it comes to anything other than running. Plus, like most people in their 40s, I have a lot of different demands in my life that I am trying to balance - work, family and running - so I can only dedicate so many hours to running. Given that I have been mostly focused on the marathon the last 5 years, I have dedicated whatever time I have for running to mileage and workouts. I should do some little exercises around my house at night when my wife does hers, but I just can't get myself to do it.

Given that I am leaving the marathon behind for a while and going to focus on the 5k to half marathon distances, I might be able to strike a better balance and do some strength training. I aspire to, but my discipline on that front is not nearly what it is when it comes to running.

My college base really wasn't all that great - I didn't start running until my freshman year of college, so my mileage was low by necessity - 40 mpw to start and it never really got above 55 mpw except for a handful of times - and I was not consistent in my training the first couple of years (not training over the summer at all after my freshman year and very little my sophomore year). There was a cumulative effect by the end, but it took all 4 years and two years of consistent 50-55 mpw before I had that breakthrough. As a masters runner, my mileage has been higher because I am racing longer distances now, but it did take a couple of years of consistent mileage before I had a nice breakthrough again.

Which brings me back to the underlying point of the OP. I think he is really getting at the fact that he suspects a bunch of doping at the masters level. The test that I like to use is to take the guys who are performing well and who strike me as maybe being a little too muscular for a distance runner and look at the current times as converted to an open time based on the age grading formulas. If those converted open times are significantly better than their lifetime PRs, that will make me want to ask more questions. This works better the younger you are. When you get to the later age groups, the swings tend to get bigger and bigger. But if you have a 45 year old guy running the age adjusted equivalent of a 14:10, and his lifetime PR isn't or is barely sub 15:00, then I would want to ask more questions.

TheJUUIICCEE wrote:

Older fellows who are cut, lean, aggressive, we all know them. They're juicing. They might not admit it but they absolutely are. I work with a large number of men in their 50s and you can tell the juicers from 50 feet away. The proof is in their demeanor, which tends to be edgy, aggressive, focused in a way that the other 50-somethings don't have anymore.

I don't get it. Higher T levels are linked with more cancer are they not? Doing well on the local race scene? Hoping to attract more/younger women? There is something wrong at the level of ego with the juicers. Aging this way denies the natural progression of the body and mind. I'm 54 and I do NOT want to be pumped, pimped, strutting like a peacock anymore. I just want to ease into the aging process, wrinkles, sags and all.

But don't you want to kick their a$$es in a race?

There is a big difference between the 40+ runner and 50+ runner. In your early 40s, you can pretty much train just like a 30 year old with some minor modifications in intensity and volume. Once you start getting closer to 50 than 40, it is an entirely different ballgame. You cannot log the miles like you used to. Cross training becomes a necessity. Oddly, the cross training can actually raise back up the volume of intensity as you can spend hours in the pool or on a bike without tiring out your legs or getting injured. So, a lot of the 50+ elite/sub elite guys are spending a lot of time swimming, cycling, pool running, or on an eliptigo or whatever. They end up filling out more than they did when they were just throwing down 100 mpw. Of course, they are lifting weights, but they are not dedicated gym rats getting all bulked up. I have seen 50+ guys who spend 2-3 hours a day in the gym. They look very different from a top 50+ runner. Finally, I think there is also a bit of an optical illusion. As you get into your 50s, especially if you have spent a fair amount of time in the sun, your skin starts getting saggy and thins out. So muscles start showing more especially if you get very lean with diet and exercise.

Sean Wade who holds many of the M50 middle and long distance world records is very slim. He’s built the same as when he was a 2.10 marathoner in his 20s, probably 5’10” and 140 pounds or less.

I'm one of them. In my case it's because I care more about overall fitness.

I could probably run a little bit faster with less muscle weight, but as

an age group runner I just don't care. I'm not training for the Olympics anymore.

False. There is old man strength. You just never had it. Not every man develops it. It is more of a by-product of manual labor.

I am almost 50 and exactly the same weight as I was at 18. But I'm a lot stronger now.

It’s not just male masters runners.

This is Jenny Hitchings

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DkG4yzJVsAAPEvU.jpg

There was a thread about her on letsrun a few months back.

https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=9139971

TheJUUIICCEE wrote:

Older fellows who are cut, lean, aggressive, we all know them. They're juicing. They might not admit it but they absolutely are. I work with a large number of men in their 50s and you can tell the juicers from 50 feet away. The proof is in their demeanor, which tends to be edgy, aggressive, focused in a way that the other 50-somethings don't have anymore.

I don't get it. Higher T levels are linked with more cancer are they not? Doing well on the local race scene? Hoping to attract more/younger women? There is something wrong at the level of ego with the juicers. Aging this way denies the natural progression of the body and mind. I'm 54 and I do NOT want to be pumped, pimped, strutting like a peacock anymore. I just want to ease into the aging process, wrinkles, sags and all.

I don't know about that...lets get some expertise on the subject:

Its old man strength that comes from having kids. After a few years with a couple of kids swinging out of you every day you get a much stronger upper body. They are like a home gym session that only pauses when you leave the house.

DaddyO wrote:

Its old man strength that comes from having kids. After a few years with a couple of kids swinging out of you every day you get a much stronger upper body. They are like a home gym session that only pauses when you leave the house.

Also because you are forced to show off gymnastic routines at the monkey bars.

Genetics R Us wrote:

Clean buff stud wrote:

I’m 59, have never taken T or any other banned substance. Have great skin, strong muscles and my cardiologist told me I have the heart of a 20 year old athlete. Some of us are genetically blessed.

That's not fair to some of us who were at the back of the line when anti-aging genetics were handed out. ?

I’ve been studying genetics after getting my 23andMe results. For many things a combination of genes is what determines a person’s attributes. In some cases single genes have huge statistical correlations. One such gene is FOX03. Those with the G/G variant are up to 2.7 times more likely to live to 100. FOX03 helps regulate the immune system and is also a strong factor in cellular resistance to oxidative stress. I have the G/G variant. There is a strong group of Master’s athletes in my area - virtually all of them have aged extremely well and look much younger than their chronological ages. I bet they all have good FOX03 genes among other things. I’ve also noticed most of them have ancestry from places like Scandinavia and Southern Greece, areas where people have naturally high T levels even in old age.

What torks me off is with all the attention on doping and who may be doping, is clean athletes with great genetics who have taken care of themselves with good nutrition, lots of sleep and intelligent training, become targets of suspicion. Especially when you start doing well and passing up people the whispers start. In my case I was away from the sport for many years, so of course I sucked three years ago and now am starting to make big gains as I finally start to get in shape. The fact that after three years I’m still not in great shape hints I’m clean and also shows how old age affects the amount of work you can do. Recovery takes much longer as we get older. After a long, hard workout I can’t come back two or even three days later. Sometimes I’ve had to wait a week before the muscle stiffness and soreness went away.

To the person who posted the link of that doctor who takes T and HGH: my body is about the same as that, so there are cases where people really can look like that naturally. Such people are rare but they do exist. I suspect if the average person took better care of themselves many people would look great as they age.

Hey, to the last poster, this is a bit off-topic, but by the sounds of it, have you tried active recover and stretching? I know i would still feel stiff after hard workouts even 3 days later if it weren't for jumping right onto a solid stretch session and a concerted effort to move around that night or the next day (or both). I've tried it both ways and it does most definitely make a difference.