Abstract
Power training has been proposed as a more effective type of resistance training for older adults for functional performance. It is not yet known whether older adults respond appropriately to instructions for power versus strength training. The purpose of this study was to determine the velocity during strength and power training, with elastic resistance bands, in older adults attending a geriatric rehabilitation day program. It was hypothesized that power training would be faster than strength training, but that there would be large interindividual differences. Nine older patients (70 to 86 years) performed power and strength training of the ankle dorsiflexor and plantar flexor muscles using elastic resistance bands. Training sessions were filmed to assess the velocity of training. Power training occurred at faster velocities as compared to strength training (P < 0.01) for both muscle groups. However, a wide variation was observed between participants in the training velocities. Older adults attending geriatric rehabilitation do have the potential to develop faster contractions during power training as compared to strength training. Nevertheless, the actual velocities achieved differed between individuals. This could explain some of the mixed findings of studies on power training. Hence, researchers should monitor velocity when comparing different types of resistance training.
Highlights
Several changes occur in the neuromuscular system with aging that result in weakness and loss of power [1]
With the equipment that has been more typically used for power training in older adults, researchers, from the dozens of studies that have been done, were reliant on the older adults to train at fast velocities, without knowing whether they were doing so
With the common types of equipment that are used, there is no way to control the movement velocity, which is the essence of power training
Summary
Several changes occur in the neuromuscular system with aging that result in weakness and loss of power [1]. Most of the early studies on resistance training for older adults have focussed on performing strength training, whereby high loads are moved at a relatively slow velocity [1]. These studies have demonstrated that older adults can experience muscle hypertrophy and increase their strength. Most researchers have used different verbal instructions for the concentric phase of movement (“as fast as possible” for power training and Rehabilitation Research and Practice “slow and controlled” for strength training) (e.g., [11–13]). This has dominated the field so much that Tschopp et al used “‘as fast as possible’ movement speed” as a criteria for selecting power training studies from the literature in their meta-analysis comparing strength and power training [7]
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