You are never too old to start rowing!
93-Year-Old Irish Superman Trains Daily –
The following article was written by Gretchen Reynolds and appeared in the fitness section of the Washington Post.com on January 16 2024.
For lessons on how to age well, we could do worse than turn to Richard Morgan. At 93, the Irishman is a four-time world champion in indoor rowing, with the aerobic engine of a healthy 30 or 40-year-old and the body-fat percentage of a whippet. He’s also the subject of a new case study, published last month in the Journal of Applied Physiology, that looked at his training, diet and physiology.
Its results suggest that, in many ways, he’s an exemplar of fit, healthy aging—a nonagenarian with the heart, muscles and lungs of someone less than half his age. But in other ways, he’s ordinary: a onetime baker and battery maker with creaky knees who didn’t take up regular exercise until he was in his 70s and who still trains mostly in his backyard shed.
Even though his fitness routine began later in life, he has now rowed the equivalent of almost 10 times around the globe and has won four world championships. So what, the researchers wondered, did his late-life indoor rowing do for his aging body?
Lessons on aging from older people
“We need to look at very active older people if we want to understand aging,” said Bas Van Hooren, a doctoral researcher at Maastricht University in the Netherlands and one of the study’s authors. Many questions remain unanswered about the biology of aging, and whether the physical slowing and declines in muscle mass that typically occur as we grow older are normal and inevitable—or perhaps due, at least in part, to a lack of exercise. This is where structured programs like exercise classes Greystones or clubs such as Greystones rowing club can play a role in promoting long-term health.
If some people stay strong and fit deep into their golden years, the implication is that many of the rest of us might be able to as well. Helpfully, his colleague Lorcan Daly, an assistant lecturer in exercise science at the Technological University of the Shannon in Ireland, was quite familiar with an example of successful aging. His grandfather is Morgan, the 2022 indoor rowing world champion in the lightweight, 90-to-94 age group. What made Morgan especially interesting to the researchers was that he hadn’t begun sports or exercise training until he was 73. Retired and somewhat at loose ends then, he’d attended a rowing practice with one of his grandsons, a competitive collegiate rower. The coach invited him to use one of the machines. “He never looked back,” Daly said.
Highest heart rate on record
They invited Morgan, who was 92 at the time, to the physiology lab at the University of Limerick in Ireland to learn more—measuring his height, weight, body composition, and gathering details about his diet. They also checked his metabolism and heart and lung function. They then asked him to get on a rowing machine and race a simulated 2,000 meter time trial while they monitored his heart, lungs, and muscles.
“It was one of the most inspiring days I’ve ever spent in the lab,” said Philip Jakeman, a professor of healthy aging, physical performance and nutrition at the University of Limerick and the study’s senior author. Morgan proved to be a nonagenarian powerhouse—his sinewy 165 pounds composed of about 80% muscle and barely 15% fat, a body composition that would be considered healthy for a man decades younger. During the trial, his heart rate peaked at 153 bpm—well above the expected max for his age, and among the highest ever recorded for someone in their 90s.
His heart rate rose quickly too, showing excellent oxygen uptake kinetics—a sign of cardiovascular health comparable to a 30- or 40-year-old. Programs offered by places like Greystones rowing club can be powerful examples of how staying active into later life can support these adaptations.
How exercise changes how we age
“This is an interesting case study that sheds light on our understanding of exercise adaptation across the life span,” said Scott Trappe, director of the Human Performance Lab at Ball State University in Indiana. He has studied many older athletes but was not involved in the new study. “We are still learning about starting a late-life exercise program,” he added, “but the evidence is pretty clear that the human body maintains the ability to adapt to exercise at any age.”
In fact, Morgan’s fitness at 93 suggests we don’t have to lose large amounts of muscle and aerobic capacity as we age. Exercise classes Greystones and similar programs help reinforce this message. Of course, Morgan likely had some genetic advantages, but his case shows that it’s never too late to start.
Exercise may not erase aging, but it can flatten the decline. And as Morgan puts it, there’s joy in the effort: “I started from nowhere,” he said, “and I suddenly realized there was a lot of pleasure in doing this.”
