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Resistance Training Strengthens Seniors

Thu Sep 11,11:47 PM ET

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THURSDAY, Sept. 11 (HealthDayNews) -- Older adults can maintain muscle
strength by doing resistance training just once a week.

That's the claim of a Ball State University study in the current issue
of the Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences.

The study also found older adults may be more likely to use resistance
training if they don't have to spend too much time in a gym.

Researchers examined a group of 10 men, average age 70, who had spent
three months building up muscle strength by training with resistance
equipment three times a week. The strength increases experienced by the
men over that time ranged from 20 percent to 90 percent.

Over the next six months, half the men continued to do resistance
training once a week. They maintained their muscle size and strength.
The other five men who returned to their previous routines of no regular
physical exercise lost muscle strength and mass, the study found.

This loss of muscle mass and strength, called sarcopenia, is commonly
associated with aging. Sarcopenia-related problems such as falls can
lead to injury and loss of independence for older adults and result in
millions of dollars in health-care costs.

"Engaging in a once a week resistance training program seems to be
effective to prevent the advancement of sarcopenia. Older adults could
engage in a low-volume, high-intensity program and still maintain
independence and reduce their chances for falls and injuries," Scott
Trappe, director of Ball State's Human Performance Laboratory, says in a
news release.

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