I think this is skewed by a few highly visible players in the NFL. Tom Brady may be performing at a high level as a quarterback, but he definitely isn't as athletic as a 23 year old coming out of the draft. His performance is due to his understanding of the game, not some visits by Ponce De Leon.
The average age in the NBA and NFL is 26 years old. Sure there are outliers, but again, much of the success of these outliers isn't due to pure athleticism, but to understanding the game.
For every Brady, or Manning, there's a running back who lost a step and is no longer effective.
I was talking more about regular people. Any normal person is likely to be so far away from their peak athletic performance that even with age-related decline, it is probably possible for them to continue to increase their level of fitness into their 60s. Of course, it is hard work to do this. The point is just that as a regular person who’s lucky enough to maintain good health, you don’t have to accept your fitness declining precipitously with age.
I have no idea what the NFL is by the way :) So I doubt that my comment was influenced by it.
The average age in the NBA and NFL is 26 years old. Sure there are outliers, but again, much of the success of these outliers isn't due to pure athleticism, but to understanding the game.
For every Brady, or Manning, there's a running back who lost a step and is no longer effective.