the results offered a mix of surprise and confirmation. as expected, the strength-trained athletes had more muscle mass than their inactive peers, regardless of age. irrespective of the type of sport, upper body strength showed a greater difference than lower body strength when comparing strength and power athletes to endurance athletes in both the older and younger groups.
also not a surprise was that the sprinters and endurance athletes had less body fat than the least active study subjects and the strength-trained athletes.
what did raise the eyebrows of the researchers is that strength-trained athletes carried similar amounts of body fat as the least active, a finding that was consistent in the older and younger groups.
despite this unexpected finding, the researchers noted that only three per cent of the older athletes were diagnosed with sarcopenic
obesity, compered with 19 per cent of the non-active controls.
“competitive sport participation throughout adult life leads to a considerably lower prevalence of sarcopenic
obesity than a recreationally active lifestyle,” the researchers said.
yet even with all that exercise, the most active older adults still put on a few extra pounds as they aged.