I subscribe to Dr. Mirkin’s newsletter. Each issue is a fount of information about healthy living but from a different perspective. Dr. Mirkin answers questions and comments on studies.

An except from a recent newsletter:

“Greater Endurance with Aging

I’m 74 years old and ride my bicycle more than 200 miles per week, often in pace lines with younger riders.  I have noticed that younger riders can easily pull away from me in short bursts,
but I keep coming back on them and seem to be better able to keep up with their accelerations as the ride progresses.

The latest issue of Exercise and Sports Sciences Reviews (January 2009) reviews the entire world’s literature to show that endurance improves as you age. Wow!

The maximal muscle contraction force occurs when you do a single muscle contraction with all your might.  Even though older people are not as strong as younger ones, many studies show that they can retain maximal force after many contractions far longer than younger people can.”

I am several years younger than Dr. Mirkin and I do not ride 200 miles a week.

read more at http://www.drmirkin.com/forum/