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Weight Training Improves Walking Endurance in Healthy Elderly Persons
- Philip A. Ades, MD;
- Douglas L. Ballor, PhD;
- Taka Ashikaga, PhD;
- Jody L. Utton, BS; and
- K. Sreekumaran Nair, MD, PhD
- From the University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, Vermont, and the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. Grant Support: In part by grants R01-AG09531-01A2 and AR1964 from the National Institutes of Health and grant RR209 from the General Clinical Research Centers. Requests for Reprints: Philip A. Ades, MD, McClure 1, Cardiology, Medical Center Hospital of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05401. Current Author Addresses: Dr. Ades: McClure 1, Cardiology, Medical Center Hospital of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05401.
Abstract
Objective: To determine the effect of a resistance-training program on walking endurance in a healthy, community-dwelling elderly population.
Design: 12-week randomized, controlled trial comparing a resistance-training group with a nonexercising control group.
Setting: Hospital-affiliated outpatient exercise facility.
Patients: 24 healthy men and women who were 65 years of age or older (mean age ±SD, 70.4 ± 4 years; range, 65 to 79 years).
Measurements: The primary outcome variable was exhaustive submaximal walking time measured at an intensity of 80% of baseline peak aerobic capacity.
Results: Participants in the resistance-training program increased submaximal walking endurance by 9 minutes (from 25 ± 4 minutes to 34 ± 9 minutes; P = 0.001), a 38% increase, whereas no change was seen in controls (20 ± 5 minutes to 19 ± 10 minutes; P > 0.2; P = 0.005 between groups). The relation between change in leg strength and change in walking endurance was significant (r = 0.48; P = 0.02). Neither group showed a change in peak aerobic capacity or in whole-body composition, although fat-free mass of the leg increased in the exercise group.
Conclusions: Resistance training for 3 months improves both leg strength and walking endurance in healthy, community-dwelling elderly persons. This finding is relevant to older persons at risk for disability, because walking endurance and leg strength are important components of physical functioning.
- Copyright ©2004 by the American College of Physicians
