> Yeah I'm 34...and feeling like I'm literally in my prime.

You are. Most people don't realize that until they're in their 40s.

He's not. Assuming he's male, physical peak is near 26, intellectual peak early to mid 20s. This doesn't mean you can't learn new things nor does it mean your body isn't fit anymore, it just means you're already on the way down.

It won't feel that way though, I understand.

> Assuming he's male, physical peak is near 26,

My measurable physical stats are much better than they were at 26. Yes I notice junk food a little sooner and can't handle as much alcohol. But I can run a marathon faster, do better in the boxing ring, and can lift more weight with higher volume.

The main physical drawback that I can see are slower reflexes. That comes out in the boxing ring when going against people 10+ years younger.

> intellectual peak early to mid 20s.

Depends what kind of intellectual peak you measure. My focus is better and more intense. My ability to learn new stuff has greatly increased because I have a bigger vaster framework to hang new knowledge onto.

And I am infinitely better at solving difficult problems in a dumb easy way because I no longer care about showing off how smart I am. This not only makes my solutions easier to build, they're also easier to maintain so future me will have less work to do.

What I'm probably less good at these days is waxing poetically about the sort of very deep thoughts that feel deep to a 25 year old. And pointless brain twisty puzzles that I was never good at anyway.

I'd say these days, intellectually speaking, I'm more of a reliable orc that plows through problems with brute force, than an elf fleeting about using dexterity.

+1 on the boxing part. My problem is more about stamina and cardio than it is about reflexes. I do see the reflex problem so when going against a couple of weight classes below myself, heavier people tend to be a tad slower anyways. But then I reached a point where the younger folks tend to go easier on me, not sure if I like that. Not that I train half as much as I wished I did, Covid really put a dent into that...

With age comes the wisdom on how to best apply the learning.

And the wisdom for deciding what is worth learning. Don't underestimate that effectiveness multiplier.

A friend died at 51 not long ago. If you die at is age, you are already 68% of the way there. It's not barely getting started, it's behind you.

More realistically, a man who is 35 years old has a life expectancy of another 43 years, so not quite there yet.

> More realistically, a man who is 35 years old has a life expectancy of another 43 years, so not quite there yet.

It's crazy how much this can vary. I'm 34, but I'm female and from a family where multiple people have lived to be over 110. I've always estimated my 'mid life'/halfway mark to be about 45.

Sure but the effectiveness of upcoming years seems much higher. Where I used to toil for 10 hours to do something, I can do the same thing now in 1 hour.

Resources are higher too. For lots of things that used to take time, I can just pay someone.

And lets not forget I spent the first 10 to 15 years being basically useless.