Original Article
Functional Exercise for Older Adults

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hlc.2008.08.015Get rights and content

Australia’s population is aging. Recent figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicate that by the year 2013, 3.1 million people will be over the age of 65 as compared with 2.1 million in 1993. This trend is projected to continue well into the 21st century, and has important implications for health and fitness professionals. Age related decline in muscle power predicts falls, motor impairment and disability. The author suggests that training programs should be tailored to maximise muscle power. Explosive heavy resistance training is safe and well tolerated in healthy adults even in the eighth decade of life and elicits adaptive neuromuscular changes in physiological variables that are commonly associated with the risk of falls and disability in aged individuals.

Section snippets

The Age-related Loss of Muscular Strength

It is well accepted that large losses of muscular strength occur with aging and there is a consensus in the literature regarding the time frame for the loss of muscular strength in healthy individuals. Muscular strength appears to increase steadily up to the age of 30 years, remaining relatively unchanged to about 50 years of age. A decrease in strength of approximately 30% may be expected between 50 and 70 years of age. Whilst there is little information regarding the muscular strength of men

The Effect of Strength Loss on the Elderly

The loss of muscular strength may have a marked effect on the capacity for elderly men and women to lead independent lives, including their ability to safely perform normal daily activities. For example in the USA, surveys have shown that after the age of 74, 28% of men and 66% of women cannot lift objects weighing more than 4.5 kg [4]. In addition, it has been estimated that one-third to one-half of all people over 65 experience at least one fall per year [5], with many falls resulting in

Resistance Training and Elderly Muscle

The overwhelming majority of resistance training research has focussed on younger populations usually between the ages of 18 and 35. For these individuals, resistance training has been shown to lead to muscle fibre hypertrophy, predominantly caused by increases in the number and size of myofibrils. Further, the increase in CSA of a muscle has been shown to be directly related to the force producing capacity of that muscle. Neuromuscular adaptations, such as increased motor unit recruitment and

Summary

It would appear that the message is clear as Australia heads toward an older population. Exercise is something that should be undertaken for life to ensure continuing quality of life. It is apparent that although the decline in muscular function that accompanies aging is, to a certain extent, inevitable, the rate at which the decline occurs is something we have the opportunity to control. Even well into the 90s the human animal has the capacity to adapt to conditioning exercise by increasing

Reasons to Train for Strength

Research has indicated that strength training can:

  • Avoid muscle loss

  • Avoid metabolic rate reduction

  • Increase muscle mass

  • Increase metabolic rate

  • Reduce body fat

  • Increase bone mineral density

  • Improve glucose metabolism

  • Reduce low back pain

  • Reduce resting blood pressure

  • Improve blood lipid levels

Reasons to Train for Power

Incorporating explosive exercise (Fig. 1) in programs for older adults has the following functional consequences:

  • Improved accuracy of movement

  • Increased rate of force development

  • Improved range of motion

  • Increased endurance

  • Improved proprioception (Agility, Balance and Coordination)

  • Increased stability

  • Improved cognitive status

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