Energy Advice for 50+?

sjwoo

Rookie
Since I turned 50 two years ago, I must begrudgingly admit that after playing hard for about 20 minutes, I'm fairly exhausted. I can still play, of course, for another hour or so (two hours is pretty much my limit), but the spring in my step is definitely gone by the 20-minute mark. Not long ago, it would take me about an hour to get to this stage. When I'm not playing tennis, I run 3-5 miles twice a week, so I get a decent amount of cardio.

I don't eat anything while I play tennis -- I've never done that. Is it time I start eating those gel packets or something? Advice would be welcome, though if the advice consists of playing doubles or pickleball, you can bet those will be summarily dismissed. :)
 

Hagberg

Rookie
Tiredness is often a result of degenerated or damaged mitochondria. This can happen after some viral infections or unhealthy living in general.
Recent research has seen this in long Covid cases and it can also happen after vaccination, probably for the same reasons (spike proteins). Research has found misfolded proteins in the blood and cells when there is mitochondrial damage.
It can be fixed through mitochondrial biogenesis but there is no consensus exactly how to do that (no magic pills). Fasting seems to be one of the certain ways to trigger mitophagy and autophagy.
Too much info to write about it here but one can Google it and try to follow advice of various health/exercise nerds.
 

WYK

Hall of Fame
Bring water. Bring Lucosade/Gatorade. Eat a Snickers bar if yer not diabetic. Or if you want to torture yourself, a health bar.
I always drink 2 cups of coffee before I go on to court.
Studies have shown it improves your reaction time, perceived frame rate(think video games), stamina, vision, aggression etc etc.
I used to have a PB&J before the game. Bananas during, and coffee before, back when I was young and in college.
 

socallefty

G.O.A.T.
Reduce inflammatory foods in your diet.
Take Advil before you play.
Stop running so much and play more tennis. Playing tennis is the best workout for playing more tennis.
If you are overweight, lose weight.

There is no magic damage that occurs to your body just because you turn 50. I‘ve played more tennis (almost daily if not traveling) in the last five years since I turned 50 than I ever did as an adult before that - playing as much now as I did as a junior with a mix of singles, doubles and lessons/practices.
 
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BenC

Hall of Fame
I bring Clif bars to nibble on during changeovers. I've found those work better than more sugary options ("granola" or candy bars) but still digest more easily than dedicated protein bars.

don't eat your whole snack at once or you might see it come back out in a hurry.
 

Fintft

G.O.A.T.
Have you measured your heart recovery rate? Not to brag, mine is over 50 beats. But you, being a runner, should be in good shape.
Nevertheless speaking of cardio, sometimes I jump on a thick mattress in my basement and it takes some training to do 2-3k jumps, as opposed to say 300 jumps. If you don't want to count 2k jumps, think about the duration of a song on the radio, plus the commercials in between songs.

Do you play singles? I try to do that daily. True, not all my partners make me run a lot.

Do you eat many fruits? Also vitamin B100 seems to be good for recovery. Dark chocolate. Tumeric, etc.
 

socallefty

G.O.A.T.
Cardio can be good while lungs scarred by major respiratory illnesses can cause you to get breathless after a few long points. You then need a bit longer to recover and catch your breath after playing defense compared to a healthy player, but don’t get fatigued in long matches because cardio is good. I have that issue. My heart has been tested to be great, but lungs have scarring that make me get breathless quickly after long points - but it doesn’t affect my performance in long matches.
 
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Injured Again

Hall of Fame
Since I turned 50 two years ago, I must begrudgingly admit that after playing hard for about 20 minutes, I'm fairly exhausted. I can still play, of course, for another hour or so (two hours is pretty much my limit), but the spring in my step is definitely gone by the 20-minute mark. Not long ago, it would take me about an hour to get to this stage. When I'm not playing tennis, I run 3-5 miles twice a week, so I get a decent amount of cardio.

I don't eat anything while I play tennis -- I've never done that. Is it time I start eating those gel packets or something? Advice would be welcome, though if the advice consists of playing doubles or pickleball, you can bet those will be summarily dismissed. :)

20 minutes is too short of a time to deplete glycogen in your muscles unless you were already depleted when you stepped on court. Even for the most intense aerobic exercises, studies show the majority of athletes can go without carbohydrate supplementation for 30-45 minutes without significant performance impairment as long as they are hydrated.

What may be happening is that despite your running, if you're doing it at a steady state, you're training your slow twitch fibers. Fast twitch fibers are recruited for high force generation and quick muscular contractions. It may be that you need to incorporate some high intensity training so you can sprint around the court and not fatigue those fibers. So add a third day of running, but make it a day where you warm up, then do a series of 50 yard X 10 repetitions at near maximum speed from a dead stop.

I've always played my best tennis when I did sprint training, even once a week. I didn't think I'd tolerate it well into my 50's but I was able to handle it fine as long as I made sure to eat well and rest. Best of luck.
 

sjwoo

Rookie
Have you measured your heart recovery rate? Not to brag, mine is over 50 beats. But you, being a runner, should be in good shape.
Nevertheless speaking of cardio, sometimes I jump on a thick mattress in my basement and it takes some training to do 2-3k jumps, as opposed to say 300 jumps. If you don't want to count 2k jumps, think about the duration of a song on the radio, plus the commercials in between songs.

Do you play singles? I try to do that daily. True, not all my partners make me run a lot.

Do you eat many fruits? Also vitamin B100 seems to be good for recovery. Dark chocolate. Tumeric, etc.

Thank you all for your helpful advice here! I do want to clarify that it's not like I'm so dead tired after 20 minutes that I can barely play. I'm fully capable of playing for another 1.5 to 2 hours. Maybe I'm just bemoaning what I used to have in my youth, but it does feel like the 20-minute limitation came fairly suddenly -- it wasn't like it went from 60 to 40 to 20. But then again, maybe it's just that I wasn't paying attention, which is entirely possible...

Looking at my Garmin watch from my last 3.5 mile run, I spent 6:28 >154bpm, 24:33 138-154bpm, and 3:47 120-137bpm. Peak heartbeat was 170bpm and I was at 140bpm at the end of the run; it took 16 minutes for me to be back at normal heartbeat (<86). My resting heartbeat is 45.

If I played singles every day, my body would not hold up! I play once a week, twice a week if I'm lucky and the weather cooperates. I eat plenty of fruit, having a smoothie every morning.
 

WYK

Hall of Fame
Bear in mind that fast twitch muscles degrade with age regardless of your training, starting around 30. Slow twitch can be easily maintained with training, though.
 

Fintft

G.O.A.T.
Peak heartbeat was 170bpm and I was at 140bpm at the end of the run; it took 16 minutes for me to be back at normal heartbeat (<86). My resting heartbeat is 45.

My two cents: Your max heart rate of 170bmp is in rage for the standard formula.
If you stop then and measure it again after one minute, how high would it be?
For the heart recovery rate, that is.

If we take your example from 140bmp to 86bmp, 16 minutes seems kinda slow, sorry. Should probably be 1-2 minutes max.
But your resting heartbeat of 45 is great, I think mine is around 58(older than you).
 

EggSalad

Hall of Fame
Given the amount of running that you do, I’d also recommend:

-Making sure you are hydrating a lot daily
-Foam rolling your legs daily

Breaking up and flushing out the lactic acid and tightness in your leg muscles could really help.
 

nyta2

Legend
Since I turned 50 two years ago, I must begrudgingly admit that after playing hard for about 20 minutes, I'm fairly exhausted. I can still play, of course, for another hour or so (two hours is pretty much my limit), but the spring in my step is definitely gone by the 20-minute mark. Not long ago, it would take me about an hour to get to this stage. When I'm not playing tennis, I run 3-5 miles twice a week, so I get a decent amount of cardio.

I don't eat anything while I play tennis -- I've never done that. Is it time I start eating those gel packets or something? Advice would be welcome, though if the advice consists of playing doubles or pickleball, you can bet those will be summarily dismissed. :)
I'm over 50, play 7-10h/w (about 90m/session)
things i did/do:
* lose weight (dropped ~50lbs)
* reschedule recovery
* elim long runs (if anything, add short sprints, and don't even need that many reps... more useful for tennis anyway)... i would only do long runs as a precursor to getting my ligaments&tendons ready to do the real work of short sprints... also find that after 50, i needed to take a day to recover from say a 5M run, before trying to play tennis.
* do more tennis... movement patterns&muscles used are different than running, so your "tennis muscles" are not trained well (eg. capillaries not developed, etc...), and probably consume more resources (o2, glucose, etc...) and rid less waste (eg. lactic acide buildup)... running is very linear, and overdevelops the "forward movement" muscles.
* i've been doing intermittent fasting, with occasional longs fasts... i have often gone 24h without eating, and able to play 2h, but i think my body is "fat adapted"... but before that i did feel i needed "sugar shots" (eg. gel packets, gatorade, etc...)
* i drink alot of liquids + add LMNT or similar (electrolyes - aka salt = potassium/sodium -> fuel of potassium/sodium pump)... i read somewhere that potassium or sodium deficiencies can lead to muscle fatigue (due to reduced efficacy of the potassium/sodium pump in muscles)... no idea if that is key to preventing, but it works for me. fyi - a banana is not enough potassium, and probably too much sugar :p

my .02
 
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jimmy8

G.O.A.T.
Thank you all for your helpful advice here! I do want to clarify that it's not like I'm so dead tired after 20 minutes that I can barely play. I'm fully capable of playing for another 1.5 to 2 hours. Maybe I'm just bemoaning what I used to have in my youth, but it does feel like the 20-minute limitation came fairly suddenly -- it wasn't like it went from 60 to 40 to 20. But then again, maybe it's just that I wasn't paying attention, which is entirely possible...

Looking at my Garmin watch from my last 3.5 mile run, I spent 6:28 >154bpm, 24:33 138-154bpm, and 3:47 120-137bpm. Peak heartbeat was 170bpm and I was at 140bpm at the end of the run; it took 16 minutes for me to be back at normal heartbeat (<86). My resting heartbeat is 45.

If I played singles every day, my body would not hold up! I play once a week, twice a week if I'm lucky and the weather cooperates. I eat plenty of fruit, having a smoothie every morning.
Eat whole fruit. Raw vegetables.
 

Grafil Injection

Hall of Fame
Sounds like you're in pretty good nick. I find that after about 20 mins I too often feel a bit knackered, but virtually always get a 'second-wind' and feel a lot better in the second hour, usually not wanting to stop except for cold / hunger / sugar depletion. I reckon that if I did a light and structured 30 minute warm-up with just 50-60% level play, I could probably avoid the dip 20-minutes in. It's usually because I start faster hitting too quickly.
 

Injured Again

Hall of Fame
Thank you all for your helpful advice here! I do want to clarify that it's not like I'm so dead tired after 20 minutes that I can barely play. I'm fully capable of playing for another 1.5 to 2 hours. Maybe I'm just bemoaning what I used to have in my youth, but it does feel like the 20-minute limitation came fairly suddenly -- it wasn't like it went from 60 to 40 to 20. But then again, maybe it's just that I wasn't paying attention, which is entirely possible...

Looking at my Garmin watch from my last 3.5 mile run, I spent 6:28 >154bpm, 24:33 138-154bpm, and 3:47 120-137bpm. Peak heartbeat was 170bpm and I was at 140bpm at the end of the run; it took 16 minutes for me to be back at normal heartbeat (<86). My resting heartbeat is 45.

If I played singles every day, my body would not hold up! I play once a week, twice a week if I'm lucky and the weather cooperates. I eat plenty of fruit, having a smoothie every morning.

Based on what you wrote, it seems more clear that you need either to add some sprint type training or add a couple of resistance training days in the gym, to build up your fast twitch fiber exercise capacity.

You may also want to change up one of your two days to a shorter, faster run to build up your aerobic capacity. It sounds like you‘re running the 3.5 miles in roughly 35 minutes, and then taking a fair amount of time to recover your baseline heart rate. Changing up one of your running days to maybe a two miler in 16-18 minutes after a good warmup would help raise aerobic capacity and also involve your fast twitch fibers more in your running.

Of course, check with your doctor before beginning any new exercise routine. Good luck.
 

michael valek

Hall of Fame
Sure but I mean to make your heart rate / general cardio system more efficient, run slower and more often and it won’t stop you from tennis and sprints and the gym etc.
 

norcal

Legend
You should also have bloodwork done just to make sure everything's in order now that you're 50.

Recent blood work showed that I was iron deficient and also somewhat dehydrated - issues I didn't used to have (I'm 58). I'm very active and didn't notice any obvious symptoms (tiredness/exhaustion being the most obvious) but I would start being symptomatic if I didn't make some changes. I have the genetic marker for rheumatoid arthritis so I see a rheumatologist and have regular blood panels done to try and prevent that RA monster from taking hold (I already have good ol fashioned arthritis) because apparently it is a disaster.

tl;dnr: get some blood panels done to make sure you don't have underlying issues.
 

travlerajm

Talk Tennis Guru
Reduce inflammatory foods in your diet.
Take Advil before you play.
Stop running so much and play more tennis. Playing tennis is the best workout for playing more tennis.
If you are overweight, lose weight.

There is no magic damage that occurs to your body just because you turn 50. I‘ve played more tennis (almost daily if not traveling) in the last five years since I turned 50 than I ever did as an adult before that - playing as much now as I did as a junior with a mix of singles, doubles and lessons/practices.
I second the anti-inflammatory diet.

But I’ve weaned myself off the Vitamin I, as it although it quells inflammation acutely, taking it regularly has been shown to increase risk of chronic inflammation by causing leaky gut, allowing harmful inflammatory bacteria and toxins to enter your body more easily through the more permeable wall of the GI tract.
 
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WildVolley

Legend
presuming tendons & ligaments already conditioned from having done 3-5M runs "for a while"
i'd argue for shorter runs (sprints - eg. 5x400m), 1-2x week.
simulates the demands of tennis more closely...
I'd go even shorter than 5x400m, as that's a brutal workout, far more taxing than running 3 to 5 miles for most people, assuming that they're not jogging the 400. I'd do 4x100m instead (after a warmup), probably at 75-85% pace assuming most people haven't done a sprint workout in a while. I'd have at least a 2 minute walk back/rest between the 100s. Most joggers are going to find a sprint workout very taxing until their bodies start to adapt to the new demands. I have a thread on sprint training if anyone is interested in the proper running form for maximum speed.

Once someone is more comfortable with sprinting, I'd do acceleration and shuttle days. Things like drop-step accelerations up a hill (no need to go hard for more than 5 seconds each interval), and shuttle runs on a court with foot touches (I'm not a fan of hand touching the line). I'd keep each shuttle under 15 seconds and have at least a 30 second rest between repetitions. This sort of workout will give a combination of stressing VO2max and muscles and tendons at the same time.
 

nyta2

Legend
I'd go even shorter than 5x400m, as that's a brutal workout, far more taxing than running 3 to 5 miles for most people, assuming that they're not jogging the 400. I'd do 4x100m instead (after a warmup), probably at 75-85% pace assuming most people haven't done a sprint workout in a while. I'd have at least a 2 minute walk back/rest between the 100s. Most joggers are going to find a sprint workout very taxing until their bodies start to adapt to the new demands. I have a thread on sprint training if anyone is interested in the proper running form for maximum speed.

Once someone is more comfortable with sprinting, I'd do acceleration and shuttle days. Things like drop-step accelerations up a hill (no need to go hard for more than 5 seconds each interval), and shuttle runs on a court with foot touches (I'm not a fan of hand touching the line). I'd keep each shuttle under 15 seconds and have at least a 30 second rest between repetitions. This sort of workout will give a combination of stressing VO2max and muscles and tendons at the same time.
that's fair.... i've been partial to the 400m after reading that andy murray and steffi graf used to do them back in the day... i think i recall their times being sub 60s for 10x (no idea of rest time between etc...)... but i never could get that fast (in general i was trying to figure out "how fit does one need to be to be a pro tennis athlete", so i was looking for any measurable running metrics).
also in one of the tennis books i read, it said a d1 college used (80's or 90's)to req a sub 5m mile to be on the team (supposedly that distance mirrored the aerobic and anaerobic requirements of a tennis match), so i was striving for that goal too (i was 25s short)... and so happens that 400's are the usual drill for the 1M.
 

Jono123

Professional
hit the gym, go to Yoga, eat well etc....If you're tanking early, calories could be a factor also, consider reducing your running as you may just be tired.
 

WildVolley

Legend
that's fair.... i've been partial to the 400m after reading that andy murray and steffi graf used to do them back in the day... i think i recall their times being sub 60s for 10x (no idea of rest time between etc...)... but i never could get that fast (in general i was trying to figure out "how fit does one need to be to be a pro tennis athlete", so i was looking for any measurable running metrics).
also in one of the tennis books i read, it said a d1 college used (80's or 90's)to req a sub 5m mile to be on the team (supposedly that distance mirrored the aerobic and anaerobic requirements of a tennis match), so i was striving for that goal too (i was 25s short)... and so happens that 400's are the usual drill for the 1M.
I'm definitely not as well read on distance training as I am on sprinting, but the big message I've been hearing recently is on zone 2 training for endurance. The claim being made is that for endurance training, and especially health, most athletes have been going too hard (in terms of heart rate and lactic acid buildup) on their regular days, and going too light on their hard days. For zone 2 training (light day training), a reasonable proxy is said to be the ability to carry on a conversation though strained while training. If you can't converse, you're going too hard. I've heard ideally a zone 2 training session should be something like 45 minutes to an hour and a half.

A 400 interval training is a hard day VO2max-type training. Very few of us are going to be able to run a 400 under a minute, especially for intervals. At that pace, you have no chance of carrying on a conversation and most people will probably max out their heart rate. I would really need a few days of recovery if I did a 400 interval workout.

I'm a fan of shorter speed based sprint workouts because they can briefly stress both the heart, muscles, and nervous system without creating too much of a recovery problem, at least if you're reasonably fit and don't cause a muscle strain. In a speed-based workout, full effort repetitions are kept around 5 seconds each, and rest periods are longer. For example, in a full out sprint exercise, like a flying 10m, the recovery between repetitions has to be at least 5 minutes for the body's ATP-PC system to recharge. Most professional sprinters are only doing full speed work at most 3x a week. For those of us that are older, two times a week is probably going to be the maximum amount.
 

Lendl

Semi-Pro
I’m not 50 yet but I will say that diet is one of the keys to energy and performance. And not just diet the day you play, every day.
This. A few years back I started the AIP diet and the energy is through the roof. I'm almost 54 and play six days a week of singles and some days I play twice at 4.5+ level. Diet is king.
 
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