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Seniors Respond As Well As Young Adults to Strength Exercise

Wayne L. Westcott, Ph.D.

You have probably heard that strength exercise provides many important health, fitness and functional benefits to those who regularly perform this type of physical activity.  However, you may have incorrectly assumed that these life changing physiological adaptations apply primarily to young or middle-aged adults.  That is, you may feel that by the time you reach your senior years it is too late to reverse the degenerative effects of the aging process.

You should be pleasantly surprised to learn that a large research study recently revealed essentially equal effects among young, middle-aged and older adults who completed an eight-week program of basic strength exercise.  The study was conducted by Wayne Westcott and Jane Guy (1996) at the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Massachusetts, and included over 1,100 participants.  There were actually 238 subjects between 21 and 40 years of age, 553 subjects between 41 and 60 years of age, and 341 subjects between 61 and 80 years of age.  All of the participants trained in small groups under close supervision in a carefully controlled research setting.

The training program consisted of two components, namely 25 minutes of endurance exercise for the cardiovascular system and 25 minutes of strength exercise for the muscular system.  The endurance exercise was performed on treadmills and stationary cycles at a moderate level of exertion (about 75 percent of maximum heart rate).  The strength exercise was performed on 12 Nautilus machines with a moderate level of resistance (about 75 percent of maximum weightload).   The strength exercises and target muscle groups are presented in Table 1. 

Each strength exercise was performed for one set of 8 to 12 repetitions in good form.  Good form required that each repetition was executed at a controlled movement speed (6 seconds), through a full movement range, with proper posture and continuous breathing.

Although all of the subjects trained for two months, 716 exercised three times per week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday), whereas 416 exercised two times per week (Tuesday and Thursday).  Other than the training frequency, all aspects of the exercise program were identical for all of the study participants.

Results

To determine the age-related results for this standard program of strength and endurance exercise, we assessed all of the subjects' body composition and blood pressure before and after the two-month training program.

Body Composition Comparisons

All three age groups (21-40 years, 41-60 years, 61-80 years) began with similar bodyweights (173-180 lbs), similar fat weights (45-49 lbs) and similar lean weights (127-131 lbs).  As you will note in Table 2, the younger adults lost 4.9 pounds of fat, the middle-aged adults lost 4.4 pounds of fat and the older adults lost 4.1 pounds of fat, which averaged less than a one-pound difference among the three age groups.

The results were even closer for changes in lean weight which represented the subjects' muscle gain.  As shown in Table 2, the younger and middle-aged adults added 2.3 pounds of muscle, and the older adults added 2.4 pounds of muscle.  In other words, the 61-80 year old group replaced muscle tissue at the same rate as their younger counterparts between 21-60 years of age.   Based on the findings from this large-scale study, strength training appears to be equally effective for improving body composition in adults of all ages.

Blood Pressure Comparisons

As might be expected, the older adults entered the exercise program with higher resting blood pressure readings (143/80  mm Hg) than the middle-aged subjects (128/79 mm Hg) and younger adults (121/76 mm Hg).   In fact, the average beginning systolic blood pressure for the older participants exceeded the generally accepted hypertensive level of 140 mm Hg.  As presented in Table 2, the 21-40 year olds reduced their resting blood pressure by 4.5 points systolic and 3.2 points diastolic; the 41-60 year olds reduced their resting blood pressure by 2.5 points systolic and 2.4 points diastolic; and the 61-80 year olds reduced their resting blood pressure by 6.2 points systolic and 3.7 points diastolic.

Although they started the exercise program with the highest blood pressure readings, the senior subjects made the greatest improvement.  It is particularly noteworthy that the older adults reduced their resting systolic blood pressure by 6 mm Hg, from 3 points above the hypertensive level to 3 points below the hypertensive level, after just eight weeks of training.  These results indicate that the blood pressure benefits derived from a basic program of strength and endurance exercise is at least as effective for improving blood pressure readings in seniors as in younger adults.

Conclusion

The large number of subjects in this comparative research study render the results generalizable to the three different age groups (21-40 years, 41-60 years, 61-80 years).  Although the younger adults, middle-aged adults and older adults all made significant improvements in their body composition and blood pressure, the senior subjects experienced the largest increase in muscle mass and the largest reduction in resting blood pressure.  Based on these findings, men and women between 61 and 80 years of age respond at least as well to sensible strength training as younger adults between 21 and 60 years of age.  It is never too late to reap the important health, fitness and functional benefits of regular and reasonable strength exercise.

Table 1.             Strength exercises and target muscle groups.

Table 2.             Changes in body composition and blood pressure by age groups.

* Statistically significant change (p <0.01)

Wayne L. Westcott, Ph.D., C.S.C.S, is Fitness Research Director at the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, MA. He is strength training consultant for numerous national organizations, such as the American Council on Exercise, the American Senior Fitness Association, and the National Youth Sports Safety Foundation, and editorial advisor for many publications, including Prevention, Shape, and Club Industry magazines.

He is also author of 20 fitness books including the new releases, No More Cellulite, Building Strength and Stamina, Strength Training Past 50, Strength Training for Seniors, Complete Conditioning for Golf, and Strength and Power for Young Athletes.

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