Spanish marathon runner at 82 has muscle mass like that of a 30-year-old

Juan López is well known in the city of Toledo. For decades he worked as a mechanic in a garage on a local industrial estate, a trade he learned at the age of 11 as an apprentice in a workshop.

When he reached retirement age, he decided to start a new life and at the age of 66 he began to take long walks, he walked the Camino de Santiago and then, on the advice of his daughter Eva, a doctor in sports performance, he began to run "because he had not had time before".

Today, at 82, he continues to participate in marathons and break world records, and is also the subject of a scientific study.

And the fact is that 77 per cent of his muscle mass is the same as that of a 30-year-old. For this reason, the Faculty of Sports Sciences of the University of Castilla-La Mancha, in collaboration with the Italian universities of Pavia, Padova and the Italian polytechnic institutes of Milan and Turin, is analysing his strength at an age when many people reduce their physical activity.

"He has the muscle power of a young person, no deterioration in his bones, no osteopenia or osteoporosis and he does not take any medication or have any pathologies."

This is how Iván Baltasar Fernández, a researcher at the University of Castilla-La Mancha defines him, saying his is "a very unusual case".

As if this were not enough, he has a maximum oxygen consumption of 52.8 per cent - something typical of much younger people: he has a great capacity to use that oxygen in his muscle building and a great facility for oxidising fat.

Juan López, for his part, has the secret: "When you reach retirement, you should look for things you enjoy, do exercise and motivate yourself to live more years in better physical shape."

"The years don't matter and everyone, to the extent of their possibilities, should move," explains this octogenarian athlete who sums up his good physical condition at the age of 82 in three factors: "A lot of training, good genetics and healthy eating with simple meals."

His next challenge is to run the Toledo Marathon on 15 November. "It's the first time I've run it and, what's more, in my city," says this veteran athlete, who in his youth only took part in a rally "but that cost me a lot of money because I had to buy new parts".

When he was 72, he ran his first marathon in Seville in a time of three hours and 25 minutes.

"I have run five marathons, I beat the world record by 50 minutes, that is, almost a minute per kilometre, I have won 40 titles in Spain and I have been European champion I think on two or three occasions because the truth is that I don't remember," he admits.

He has also been world champion in the 3000m indoor, 10km cross country and half marathon in his category.

In 2020, with the Covid-19 pandemic, he was unable to go running, but this did not stop him. He trained at home even though he did not have a treadmill. He would run through every room with daily workouts equivalent to 20 kilometres.

Today he continues to train every day with sessions of between 10 and 12 kilometres - it is common to see him running alone or in a group along the Ronda del Valle in Toledo - and two days a week he does strength exercises on a track and progression training.