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I don’t buy it, personally. There were plenty of older folks in my college program who thrived in their studies. Plenty of older folks at work who adapt to new training just fine.

Personally I feel more focussed and capable of picking up new skills now than I ever did in my twenties. I just can’t believe your capacity for learning necessarily decreases with age.

Yeah I’m aware that we observe a correlation. You know what I think actually happens? You remember back in school, teachers would always complain about the “summer vacation effect”? Kids would come back to school after break and it would be a huge slog getting them habituated back into productive learning. Year after year, affecting children at every age. The effect is noticeable after they disengage for only a couple of months.

Now what happens if you go years or even decades without really challenging your adaptability? How hard would it be to get back into things, then? And because this effect required the passage of time to take hold, would most people not just assume it’s an inevitable part of getting older? What if it isn’t, and nearly everyone has the capacity to claw their way back?

That’s my view. Ultimately it’s up to each of us how we want to handle our own journey of aging. I would recommend against believing your “ship has already sailed” at thirty years old, considering the success people find when they refuse to accept that.

My apologies for making such a rant, and with such emotion haha. Your short comment didn’t really justify it, and this isn’t really directed at you. Just some stuff that’s been on my mind a lot as it is a very common sentiment.

But to close out my train of thought, I would also add that most people consider sarcopenia to be inevitable as they get older. However, we now know that the effects are completely reversed in virtually everyone who engages with strength training into their old age, enabling them to walk around in their eighties with the same strength as an average 30 year old. But in order to receive these proven benefits, you need to believe that it is possible for you personally, and you need to try.