Abstract

To examine the effects of short-term strength training (STST) on different manifestations of muscle strength in the lower limbs, functional capacity and body composition of people 65 years old or older. We searched the electronic databases (PubMed, Web of Science and Cochrane) to identify all publications using STST (up to 12 weeks) in people aged 65 or older, published in the last five years, prior to May 2018. Results were analyzed as continuous data using random effects to calculate the standardized mean difference (SMD) and the 95% confidence interval (95%CI). 28 studies with 921 subjects met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed. These works were grouped into three categories for analysis: Muscular Strength, Functional Capacity and Body Composition. In Muscular Strength category, the overall pooled effect estimate was 0.95 (95%CI: 0.63; 1.26), with a significant STST effect (Z= 5.93; p<0.001), over the different strength manifestations analyzed. In Functional Capacity category, the STST decreased the Time Up-and-Go test run time (SMD: -1.01; 95%CI: -1.56; -0.47) and increased the repetitions’ number performed in 30-s chair-stand test (SMD: 1.07, 95% CI: 0.79, 1.34). In Body Composition category, the overall pooled effect estimate was 0.13 (95%CI: -0.16; 0.42), without finding a significant effect of STST (Z= 0.87; p= 0.38). STST has a moderate to large effect in improving the different manifestations of muscle strength and functional capacity. However, this type of intervention has no effect on body composition.

Highlights

  • IntroductionThe term aging refers to changes in molecules, cells, populations or species over time

  • From a biomedical perspective, the term aging refers to changes in molecules, cells, populations or species over time

  • It was hypothesized that subjects who performed short-term strength training (STST) would significantly increase the different muscle strength manifestations in the lower limbs, as well as the functional capacity when comparing them with people with similar characteristics that did not perform training

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Summary

Introduction

The term aging refers to changes in molecules, cells, populations or species over time. The aging process promotes changes in body composition, causing the rate of loss of muscle mass (MM) in individuals older than 50 years to be 1 to 2% per year, while the rate of muscle strength loss reaches values yearly from 1.5 to 3% and the rate of annual bone mass loss is 1 to 2% (CURTIS et al, 2015). The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM, 2011; ACSM, 2009) states that regular physical activity practice in older people result in positive adaptations in the body that contribute to a healthy aging It demonstrates a reduced risk of developing the fragility syndrome and the risk of falls, as well as improving physical capacity, balance, mobility, muscular strength/power, body composition and functional capacity. Strength training seems to promote more consistent results in functional capacity (BRADY; STRAIGHT; EVANS, 2014), in MM and muscle strength, during the aging process (BROOK et al, 2016)

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