Issue 184

3 tips to guarantee you'll be battling into your fifties

Father time taps us all out eventually. Yet Randy Couture didn't hang his gloves up until the ripe age of 47 and the UFC's crowd-pulling seniors – like Hughes (37), Franklin (36) and Carwin (36) – are still going strong.

UFC president Dana White can thank science for being able to keep his ageing charges in youthful condition.

Use these latest tips from the labcoats to keep your jabs young at heart.

Drink a protein shake, not a carb shake, after training.

Research by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology found that protein’s effects are more pronounced in the older athlete. As little as 20g was enough to kick start muscle growth and preservation. 

It’s never too late to start improving your body. A study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning compared the biceps growth in men aged 18 and 39 years old and found the gains to be equal.

Muscles still react well to new challenges, which allows them to grow well into your 40s. After that, resistance training may help slow the muscle loss that begins in your 50s. 

Don’t give up on the cardio. Research at Tel Aviv University, Israel, found endurance exercise keeps you younger by increasing the number of stem cells in your muscles helping them rejuvenate.

In short, get on the treadmill and use it or lose it.

Success in the cage is key to a longer life

Want to live longer? Try KO'ing your opponent.

Research suggests that the sense of self worth a fighter experiences when achieving their goals can actually add up to 3.9 years on their life span.

Studies at the University of Toronto looked at 800 Oscar-nominated actors and actresses and discovered the rush they receive after winning, called “biological peace of mind,” actually made them better at coping with both physical and emotional stresses that could grind the body down over time.

So providing you don't get caught too many times, destroying your opponent is guaranteed to put a smile on your face and keep the grim reaper at bay.

This may just explain why the illusive middleweight champion Anderson Silva is a very deceptive 36 years old.