Describe how biological aging affects motor performance

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Declines in heart and lung functioning under conditions of exertion, combined with gradual muscle loss, lead to changes in motor performance. In studies of competitive athletes, who try to attain their very best performance in real life, ages of best performance remained relatively constant. Athletic tasks that require speed of limb movement, explosive strength, and gross-motor coordination—sprinting, jumping, and tennis—typically peak in the early twenties. Those that depend on endurance, arm–hand steadiness, and aiming—long-distance running, baseball, and golf—usually peak in the late twenties and early thirties. Because these skills require either stamina or precise motor control, they take longer to perfect. These findings tell us that the upper biological limit of motor capacity is reached in the first part of early adulthood. Longitudinal research on master runners reveals that as long as practice continues, speed drops only slightly from the mid-thirties into the sixties, when performance falls off at an accelerating pace. Indeed, sustained training leads to adaptations in body structures that minimize motor declines. In sum, before late adulthood, biological aging accounts for only a small part of age-related declines. Lower levels of performance by healthy people into their sixties and seventies largely reflect reduced capacities resulting from a less physically demanding lifestyle.