LONGITUDINAL WEIGHT TRAINING IN THE ELDERLY: EFFECTS OF 3 YEARS OF DETRAINING ON THE RETENTION OF STRENGTH 1445

Abstract

We compared the dynamic muscle strength (1 RM), symptom limited treadmill endurance, and bone mineral density and content, among 3 groups (5 males and 5 females in each group) of elderly subjects who had either continued to weight train twice per week for 5 years (TR), ceased to weight train after 2 years(DETR), or had acted as controls throughout (CON). The TR and DETR trained hard (progressing to 3 sets at up to 80% of 1 RM) for 2 years; the TR continued training for an additional 3 years at a maintenance level (2-3 sets at 60-70% 1 RM), whereas the DETR stopped training, the 10 CON subjects did not train for the duration of the study but took part in identical testing procedures. After 2 years of weight training, dynamic strength in the TR and DETR groups increased significantly above the baseline and CON values for all exercises (p<0.0001). Following 3 years of maintenance level training, leg press and arm curl 1 RMs (sum of both limbs) in the TR remained 21.6 kg(17.4%) and 15.7 kg (82.2%) above baseline values. The 1 RMs in DETR were 18.4 kg (14.2%) and 5.3 kg (24.2%) above baseline for leg press and arm curl after 5 years, whereas the CON declined over the 5 year period by 18.4 kg (9.7%) and 4.4 kg (19%). Treadmill performance and bone mineral density and content were not different among groups. We conclude that: 1. The strength gains from long-term resistance training in the elderly are not entirely lost even after 3 years of detraining, and 2. The effects are specific to the exercises used in the training program.