We determined whether the incidence of injuries would increase with advancing age and whether the participation in cross-training would be related to a decreased rate of injuries and healthcare costs in Masters swimmers. A total of 499 swimmers (55±14 years of age) belonging to US Masters Swimming completed a comprehensive questionnaire that included questions regarding their medical history as well as their training history. In average, swimmers had been training for 13±12 years, and 35, 40, and 47% participated in running, cycling, and dryland resistance training, respectively. According to the logistic regression, prevalence of injuries increased significantly but modestly with advancing age (p<0.05). Linear regression analysis showed that for every 1 month increase in the length of injury, healthcare costs increased by 7.4% (p<0.05). Linear regression and logistic regression analyses determined that overall volume of swimming training was not related to age or incidence of injuries, respectively. Multinomial logistic regression analyses using age and sex as predictors demonstrated that the odds of reporting a swim-related injury were significantly lower for individuals who participated in any number of cross-training activities compared with those who do not cross-train (p<0.05). Regular participation in any cross-training modality was inversely related to age (p<0.05). We concluded that the diversification of the overall training program by incorporating cross-training may be an important strategy to reduce sport-specific injuries among Masters athletes.

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We have previously demonstrated that the solitary addition of nonfat dairy products to the normal routine diet was capable of improving overall vascular function. However, it is unknown whether whole fat dairy products mediate similar vascular responses as most of the available cohort studies do not support the association between full‐fat dairy products and arterial blood pressure. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to determine the efficacy of conventional full‐fat dairy products as part of the normal routine diet to improve vascular function in adults with elevated blood pressure. A total of 60 otherwise healthy men and women (mean age of 58 ± 2 years) with pre‐ or stage I hypertension (systolic and diastolic blood pressure: 120–159/80–99 mmHg) were recruited. They underwent a randomized controlled cross‐over dietary intervention encompassing 4 weeks of 4 daily servings of dairy (whole milk, cheese, or yogurt) and 4 weeks of a daily isocaloric non‐dairy control (coconut milk, orange juice, peanuts, and applesauce) provided by investigators. A 2‐week washout period was incorporated between the two dietary conditions to remove any residual effects. Body weight did not change throughout the experimental period. Brachial artery flow‐mediated dilation, an index of endothelium‐dependent vasodilation, did not change significantly in either dairy (5.7 ± 0.5 vs. 5.4 ± 0.6%) or control (6.5 ± 0.5 vs. 5.6 ± 0.6%) conditions. Central arterial stiffness, as measured by carotid‐femoral pulse wave velocity, did not change significantly following either dairy (11.3 ± 0.3 vs. 10.9 ± 0.3 m/sec) or control (11.2 ± 0.3 vs. 11.0 ± 0.3 m/sec) conditions. When arterial stiffness was assessed using ultrasound‐derived distention measures, including carotid artery compliance, arterial distensibility, and elastic modulus (preliminary samples of n=37), the results were the same as no significant changes were recorded. Central arterial systolic blood pressure did not change significantly for both dairy (125 ± 1 vs. 122 ± 2 mmHg) and control (125 ± 1 vs. 123 ± 2 mmHg) conditions. These results suggest that unlike non‐fat dairy products, addition of wholefat dairy products to the normal diet do not improve vascular function in adults with elevated blood pressure. Support or Funding Information Supported by the Dairy Research Institute. This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

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Age-related decreases in performance are thought to be driven by decreases in exercise training stimuli. We determined the influence of changes in training stimuli with advancing age on swimming performance using cross-sectional and longitudinal data analyses. Totals of 692 and 98 competitive swimmers belonging to the US Masters Swimming Association were analyzed in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. Swimming times increased with advancing age, and age was the strongest predictor of swimming performance, followed by training volume, in both the cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. In the cross-sectional data analyses, an increase in training volume by 10 km/month, was associated with improved performance by 0.69 s regardless of age. In the longitudinal analyses, training volume was not a significant predictor for younger swimmers. In middle-aged swimmers, however, increases in training volume resulted in faster swimming times, and its effect was more pronounced in older swimmers. We concluded that there was a graded positive relationship between yearly increases in training volume and improved swimming performance, and that such effects were greater with advancing age.