Longevity vs. Performance: An Athlete's Compromise
by Mitchell Thompson
(8 Minute Read)
In the fitness industry, the concept of training for longevity versus training for performance is one that most trainers fail to consider and usually avoid. On one hand, training for longevity prioritizes the development of healthy lifestyle habits and sustaining that healthy standard for a longer period of time. On the other hand, training for performance focuses on developing specific skills and abilities that will help an athlete excel in a particular sport or activity. Both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages, so it is important to understand the differences between the two in order to make an informed decision as to which approach is best for you.
Training for Longevity
Training for longevity is all about developing healthy lifestyle habits that will help you stay as healthy and mobile as possible for as long as possible. This approach focuses on developing a sustainably balanced diet, getting enough sleep, and engaging in enough regular physical activity. Unlike training for performance, training for longevity requires less rigorous intensity and sacrifices “effort” for sustainability. This means that a person training for longevity may not be able to jump as high, run as fast, or be as strong as someone training for performance, however the person training for longevity will be able to jump high, run fast, and workout more effectively (and with less pain) as they are aging. The goal of this approach is to maintain a healthy lifestyle that will help you stay healthy and mobile as we get older.
The main advantage of this approach is that it can help you maintain your health and mobility as you age. This assists in avoiding many of the health problems that are caused by an unhealthy lifestyle. However, a longevity lifestyle also assists in avoiding the many health problems that are caused by high performance training. Too much of anything is bad, and too much training (or not enough recovery) is the achilles heel of high performance athletes. This is why many professional high performance athletes inevitably resort to exogenous drugs like anabolic steroids because their training regimen is not sustainable for their natural body long term.
No different than over training, the glutenous eating habits for high performance athletes is not sustainable. To eat the amount of calories required to exert the amount of energy that a professional needs to exert is crazy. Not only this, but the protein intake for muscle recovery must also be on the extreme end of what is necessary (for a high performer), yet what is “necessary” for a high performance athlete is not necessary for someone who wants to simply be as healthy as possible.
The primary disadvantage of this approach is that it does not focus on developing specific skills and abilities that can help you perform better in a particular sport or activity. This means that if you’re training for longevity, you are foregoing the benefits of peak performance for the sake of healthier long-term sustainability. Though these “benefits of peak performance” are substantial, they are not extreme enough to qualify the sacrificing of longevity unless it is literally your job - meaning unless you are a professional athlete. This means you will not jump as high as you otherwise could have, run as fast as you otherwise could have, or lift the heaviest weight you otherwise could have. Is the difference significant? It depends on how you qualify significant.
Is this a bad thing?
That’s for you to decide, as everybody has their own preferences.
I personally choose to train for longevity, but I have clients that I train under the format of optimizing their performance as athletes. And in order to make certain people stronger, faster, and overall perform better as athletes, I must forgo certain “longevity” principles for the sake of optimizing their athleticism. And that is the key takeaway from this entire article: do we forego longevity for an instant gratification towards peak performance, or do we forego the instant gratification of peak performance for the delayed gratification of staying as healthy as possible for as long as possible.
Training for Performance
Training for performance is all about the development of specific skills and abilities that will help an athlete excel in their particular sport. This approach focuses on developing speed, agility, endurance, strength, and power. It also involves developing specific skills and techniques that are specific to whatever sport an athlete is training for. The goal of this approach is to improve athletic performance in a particular area - even at the expense of potential long-term affects.
Want to run the fastest that you possibly can and jump your absolute highest? It may be at the expense of your knees, ankles, and feet long term. Oh, not to mention all of the tendons, ligaments, and tissues that are implicated as well.
Want to break your former PR (personal record) for certain lifts and be physically stronger than most humans on the planet? It may be at the expense of your back, elbows, shoulders, and hips. Oh, not to mention all of the tendons, ligaments, and tissues that are implicated as well.
Want to be as buff as possible and get your muscles are big as they possibly can? It may be at the expense of your long term health.
The main advantage of this approach is that it can help an athlete improve their performance in a particular sport. This can help an athlete accelerate more in their respective sport, and the training system they would follow would be a lot more intense than someone training solely for longevity. Unlike longevity training, this approach helps the individual reach athletic goals and achieve athletic success in any given sport or athletic endeavor. The individual training for performance will have more immediate physical success than the individual training for longevity. But at what cost?
The main disadvantage of this approach is that it does not focus on the long-term implications of the athlete’s short term successes. The best example I can give is the short term successes, yet long term implications, from combat sports athletes. Especially in MMA, many combat sports athletes will cut weight, meaning they will lose an upwards of 30+lbs just days before the fight in order to make weight at lower weight class so that they can be the “bigger fighter” on fight night. The idea of cutting weight alludes to the idea that an athlete will be the bigger, stronger, and overall better fighter on fight night - which alludes to idea of weight cutting as being a performance enhancing process. And what are the long term health implications of this performance enhancing process? It is still too early to tell exactly, but the affects of severe dehydration and malnourishment themselves in tandem with over training is starting to show amongst former fighters/combat sports athletes.
When training for performance, the athlete will likely focus on strength, power, and speed, which can increase the risk of injury. Training for performance means pushing the body to its limits and exceeding what it can handle, potentially leading to muscle and tendon tears, stress fractures, and sprains. Although athletes may want to quickly improve their performance, the main disadvantage to performance training over longevity training is that it increases the risk of injury. If an individual is looking to achieve long-term success in regards to their health, then it is important to prioritize a slow, progressive fitness plan to resist burnout while also managing the risk of injury.
Conclusion
Training for performance versus training for longevity is an important issue for many athletes and active individuals. Both goals have their advantages and disadvantages, so it’s important to understand the differences between the two. The main disadvantage to training for performance compared to training for longevity lies in the risk of injury. The main disadvantage of training for longevity compared to training for performance lies in the diminished immediacy of results.
The ultimate deciding factor as to which route you should take should depend on this: train in accordance to what your day job requires. This means if you’re a labor worker, and your job requires intense laborious effort, then you should train to compliment your day job. Since you’re already lifting heavy weight, a labor worker should focus less on heavy-lifting outside of their already heavy-lifting day job and focus more on mobility, stability, and functionality in their training regimen to compliment their already heavy-lifting day job. In this case, the labor worker should focus more on relaxing/recovering their muscles off the job since their muscles are being constantly stimulated on the job (focusing a little more on longevity training than performance). Adversely, if you’re an office worker and sit all day, then you would focus on stimulating your muscles outside of the day job since your muscles are being underused while working. For the office worker, focusing more on endurance, strength, and power will compliment their sedentary day job as the office worker needs more muscle stimulation than the labor worker (focusing a little more on performance training than longevity). These are generalized examples, and there is nuance for all individuals in finding a specific training regimen that works for them. What’s most important is finding a training regimen that you can enjoy doing and that you can sustain long term.
Remember, and with all of this being said, fitness itself is nearly irrelevant in comparison to eating properly. If you do not eat properly, then training for performance or longevity becomes futile because training itself is founded on the nutrients that you are fueling/recovering your body with. If you are nutrient deficient (primarily calorie and protein deficient) then you cannot perform as well nor accrue the benefits of longevity. Without clean eating, none of this works!