boomerhealthandfitness.com

Nifty After Fifty is a senior fitness program I mentioned in an earlier post.  They participated in a 12 week study that assessed the benefits of strength training in high-risk frail seniors.  The participants undertook two 30 minute strength training sessions per week utilizing resistance training machines for the following eight exercises.

• Leg Extensions
• Upper Back Row
• Biceps Curl
• Triceps Push Down
• Shoulder Press
• Chest Press
• Leg Press
• Leg Curl

Each patient had their baseline Maximum Usable Strength [MUS], (defined by the authors as the maximum amount of resistance weight the patient was capable of utilizing per apparatus), tested on eight assorted resistance-training machines at the start of the study and every four weeks thereafter {Table 4}. Patients were trained to perform two sets of eight repetitions with seventy five percent [75%] of their MUS. Each repetition was performed to a count of three or four for the concentric and the eccentric phase of muscle activity. The number of repetitions in each set was progressively increased from eight to twelve. When the larger number of repetitions became more easily managed and as improvement in strength permitted, the resistance was gradually increased…….No organized effort was made to improve aerobic exercise ability, balance, flexibility, or the nutritional habits of the patients.

At the end of the 12 week period, the patients had their MUS retested and there was significant improvement as the table below indicates.

Maximum Usable Strength

Average Percentage Improvement for Group over Baseline

An additional positive aspect of this pilot study was the paucity of falls occurring in the study group compared to national data. During the training phase and an 18-month follow-up period there were only 3 falls and no fractures among this frail high-risk senior group even though it is estimated that more than one-third of people over 65 have a fall each year.

That these results were achieved with only two sets of 12 repetitions twice per week is amazing to me.  Granted these were patients who were frail and untrained and some improvement in strength was to be expected, but four sets of 12 repetitions weekly is not all the much.  A patient whose original MUS was 10 pounds on the chest press would be pushing close to 20 pounds after 12 weeks.  That might not seem like much until you consider that the average age of the subjects was 77 years old and all had pronounced muscle weakness at the beginning of the program.

At eighteen months, most of the patients who completed the program have continued to engage in a higher level of physical activity than they did prior to starting the program.

A press release on the study was posted at Market Watch and the study abstract can be found at the Nifty After Fifty web site.

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