New book helps weekend warriors stay in the game

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Like so many aging recreational athletes, Jeff Bercovici wants to extend his competitive days for as long as possible.

But, as he found out when he hit his early 30s, his body didn't respond to vigorous exertion the way it did when he was in his athletic prime.

"Not only did I have to work hard to get into game shape, I found myself racking up injuries like never before," he says.

So, rather than settle for simply following conventional wisdom about training and injury prevention, Bercovici -- the 41-year-old San Francisco bureau editor of Inc. -- searched far and wide for the cutting-edge medical science that has enabled so many elite athletes to extend their careers into their late 30s and 40s.

The result is the just-published "Play On: The New Science of Elite Performance at Any Age" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/$27).

It's a fun, fast-paced and engaging first-person exploration of the myriad ways that technology and medical science have combined in the last decade to transform everything we thought we knew about the aging athlete.

Bercovici's journalistic bona fides (he's a former senior editor and writer at Forbes) helped him gain access to a vast array of sources: Super Bowl champions, Olympic gold medalists, World Cup soccer players, geneticists, sports psychologists, surgeons, trainers, inventors, biomechanics experts and more.

In studying how the world's most-celebrated older athletes -- think Tom Brady, Serena Willams, Michael Phelps and Roger Federer, among others -- maintain their championship-caliber performances long after their peers have retired, Bercovici was looking for something he believes we all want: "to feel like we possess a measure of control over how we age."

The first -- and most important -- step in mitigating the aging process: regular, vigorous workouts.

As he writes, "The most pernicious symptoms of aging -- cognitive decline, muscle wasting, bone thinning, cardiovascular impairment -- just don't happen in the same way in people who work out hard and often."

Indeed, Bercovici notes, on a cellular and molecular level, a masters athlete and a collegiate have more in common than the masters athlete does with a sedentary person in his own demographic.

That said, the key to maximizing one's fitness is to prioritize quality over quantity when training -- and map out strategies to maintain peak performance and optimal health.

Thus, elite athletes are monitored so that they avoid an "accumulation of fatigue." Rather, their aim is to always be fresh and ready to compete by doing the "minimum effective dose" of conditioning.

In other words, work hard -- but also work smart.

While Bercovici sought the advice, knowledge and fitness philosophies of the world's elite athletes, trainers, doctors and experts, he has some tips for us recreational athletes, too. Among them:

-- "Periodize, periodize, periodize." This means increasing training loads gradually, preparing one's body for sport-specific movements and incorporating planned rest so as to avoid the dreaded fatigue accumulation.

-- Incorporate "unloading" and "mobility" into every session. This can include stretching, yoga, foam rolling, meditation, icing, etc. The cool-down part of any workout (or athletic competition) is just as vital as the primary activity.

-- "Polarize" your workouts. "Twenty percent or less of your workouts should be at high intensity, and the balance should be performed at such low intensity that they require little or no recovery," he writes.

-- "Eat for muscle." Try to consume more fresh, lean protein, but eat it in moderate amounts several times a day.

-- Coach yourself through "self-talk." With his internal monologue, Bercovici notes "I've discovered that I perform best when challenging and exhorting myself rather than encouraging, praising, or criticizing."

No matter one's fitness and athletic ability, "Play On" provides the kind of valuable -- and interesting -- information everyone can use.

Steve Dorfman writes for The Palm Beach Post. Email: sdorfman(at)pbpost.com.

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