Cognitive decline among persons 65 and older is a pressing health care issue, so prevention strategies would greatly benefit individuals and society. The authors focused on executive cognitive functions because they  are highly associated with the ability to perform instrumental activities of daily living and mobility.

This study clearly demonstrates that strength training provides benefits well beyond the physical changes. Strength training exercise was also effective in improving subjective sleep quality, depression, and quality of life even without significantly changing habitual activity. This study provides additional motivation for encouraging seniors to engage in strength training on a regular basis.

Six months of heavy resistance ST may reduce resting BP in older persons. Since the changes in resting BP noted in the present study represent a shift from the high-normal to the normal category, heavy resistance ST could play a role in reducing BP for older adults with BP in the high-normal range.

High-intensity strength training is feasible and safe in selected patients with well-controlled rheumatoid arthritis. It leads to significant improvements in strength, and reduction of pain & fatigue without aggravating disease activity or joint pain. Strength training can also play an important role in preventing the decline of lean body mass common among patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Programmers who have been reluctant to provide strength training opportunities for older adults with rheumatoid arthritis due to fear of injury, can carefully proceed with strength training through the pain free range of motion of arthritic joints.

The researchers concluded that 12 weeks of chromium supplementation in conjunction with strength training does not increase lean body mass and muscle strength or decrease percent body fat in young, untrained males.

These data indicate that when calories are restricted enough to result in weight loss, significantly more muscle mass is preserved in a strength training program combined with a weight loss program, when compared to a weight loss program alone.

This is an excellent resource for anyone trying to outline a rationale for including progressive resistance strength training in programs for older adults. It forges the link between the effects of strength training (increased muscle mass/function and bone density) and the changes in risk factors for disease and disability.

These results demonstrate that a supervised strength training program can lead to significant gains in dynamic strength of the muscle groups of postpolio muscular atrophy patients without putting them at risk for muscular damage. This has significant implications for helping patients regain some of the strength lost as a result of the muscle atrophy.

The data revealed that changes in absolute and relative RMR in response to ST are not significantly influenced by age, but they are influenced by gender. In fact, the 7% increase in RMR of all groups when pooled is due largely to the 9% increase in RMR attributed to men only. In addition, the changes in FFM appear similar in both genders. Finally, this study showed that young and older men and women do not show an increase in EEPA outside of the ST sessions. The authors suggest that the difference in RMR between genders may be due to sympathetic nervous system adaptations.

The results indicate that the 30 minute “express” training program can increase cardiovascular fitness, strength, and some measures of flexibility. Changes in body composition and blood parameters were not affected, possibly due to the short time frame of the study. This study provides evidence that fitness participants do not always have to adhere to a 1 hour time slot in order to be elective. This is very valuable for those who have a limited amount of time to squeeze in exercise.

The effects of a supervised 1-year high intensity strength training program on bone and body composition were examined in 10 healthy postmenopausal women, aged 50-70 years. Subjects were randomly assigned to either a sedentary control group (no strength training) or a high intensity strength training program. Eight repetitions of each of the following exercises; leg press, leg extension, lat pull down, back extension and abdominal flexion on Keiser machines was identified as a set. Two days per week, this set was repeated 3 times with a weight equal to 80% of 1 repetition maximum (the maximum amount of weight an individual can lift one time).

Recent peer reviewed studies (Frost 2008 and Frost 2012) have validated the “power” of pneumatics. Let’s take a look at what we can learn from both acute and chronic adaptation comparisons between mass and pneumatics.

Keiser Essentials is an introduction to Keiser's Resistance Training Platform including the history, the science behind our technology, the anatomy of our equipment, and how to maximize the use of Keiser Technology.

This study shows that a 16 week exercise intervention of strength training or walking results in significant improvement in physical function of elderly men and women aged 66 to 96 years when compared with a non-exercising control group. Strength training is more effective at improving strength, coordination and agility than walking.

Strength training is an effective antidepressant in depressed elders, while also improving strength, morale, and quality of life. While no one form of exercise has been proven superior in reducing depression, strength training in two published studies had higher compliance and lower drop-out rates than has been shown with aerobic exercise. This study provides further evidence that strength training should be an integral part of exercise programming for seniors.

Despite the removal of supervision, transport costs, and group setting at 10 weeks, exercise was associated with a significant reduction in depression at both 20 weeks and after 26 months. The antidepressant effect of exercise was maintained and self-efficacy and morale continued to improve over weeks 10-20 even when laboratory-based exercise was replaced with unsupervised patient-directed exercise. More than 2 years after the initial exercise study, patients in the exercise group were still significantly different from the controls in depressive symptom response. Unsupervised exercise appears to be an effective long-term treatment for clinical depression in older adults.

The authors provide a clear overview of the research on age related changes in muscular strength, mass and quality and outline the effectiveness of strength training to prevent and reverse sarcopenia. This article is an excellent resource for anyone trying to outline a rationale for including progressive resistance strength training in programs for older adults.

Eighty eight percent of the participant’s daily repetitions consisted of a variety of lower extremity exercises incorporating weight belts and/or use of a box and other step up platforms. Only 12% of the daily repetitions used the Keiser leg press machine. In addition, the exclusion criteria was designed to reduce the risk of injury during the training protocol, but also resulted in a high functioning group which may have limited the potential for improvements in physical performance measures. Further study is warranted to determine if these types of “home-based” interventions may be useful in improving functional performance in older adults who have a more average level of function.

This study indicates that young and older men and women demonstrate similar changes in muscle strength and muscle fiber characteristics in response to heavy resistance strength training. Neither age nor gender significantly effected the changes in 1 RM, strength or muscle fiber cross sections. In addition, since type II muscle fiber appears most vulnerable to atrophy with aging, the significant increases in type II muscle fiber area in all age groups suggests that HRST may be especially helpful in reducing the muscle loss associate with aging.

Past research has indicated that older skeletal muscle may be more susceptible to muscle damage than young muscle. This is the first study to show that high-volume HRST leads to similar increases in muscle damage in both young and older men. The data reveals heavy resistance strength training results in significant strength gains for young and older men with no significant difference in risk of muscle damage.

Older men and women exhibit significant increases in strength, muscle quality and muscle volume as a result of 9 weeks of strength training. Older men and women also demonstrate equivilant strength training induced neural adaptations to the untrained limb. Older men exhibit greater absolute increases in muscle volume and 1 RM than women, but there was no significant gender difference in the muscle quality. This suggests that the observed strength increases are impacted by more than just muscle hypertrophy and that neural adaptations play a significant role.

The results of this study show that age affects the changes in 1 repetition maximum strength during both strength training and detraining, whereas gender does not. However, older individuals responded well to strength training and were able to maintain muscular strength as well as the young individuals for at least 12 weeks after training had ceased. This study reinforces earlier studies showing that strength training effectively improves strength for both young and older individuals.

The results of this study demonstrate that non muscle mass adaptations to strength training account for a significant portion of the strength gains regardless of age or gender. In addition, these adaptations are retained for 31 weeks after discontinuing strength training, and are instrumental in preserving strength despite declining muscle mass during the same time frame. The authors suggest that some type of neuromuscular adaptation that enhances contractile properties may partially explain the increases in muscle quality with strength training. Finally, it is clear that prolonged interruptions in strength training exercise does not result in complete loss of muscle quality gains.

A significant amount of research has been done on the effects of increased strength on functional status of older adults. However, this study highlights the importance of power to the functional status of community dwelling elderly women. Leg power was the strongest predictor of self-reported functional status in elderly women. Habitual physical activity also significantly impacted functional status.

The improvements in peak power following the POW intervention were 84% greater for leg press and 34% greater for knee extension when compared to STR in older women. POW and STR demonstrated similar improvement in 1 RM strength. Since improvement in lower extremity peak power may exert a greater influence on age-associated reductions in physical function than other exercise, training interventions could be designed to more closely maximize the capacity to improve peak power in older individuals.

These results demonstrate that healthy older individuals, male and female, can significantly improve muscle power with progressive resistance training. These improvements are on the same magnitude as those realized by younger adults performing the same exercises. This is very significant research because previous studies have shown that leg muscle power is more important than leg strength in performing daily activities such as stair climbing, rising from a chair and walking. More research is needed to determine if training at 80% of 1RM is the optimal protocol for improving power.

Strength and flexibility training programs are not as effective as flexibility training alone for improving joint range of motion. Therefore, if the goal is only to increase range of motion, then flexibility training alone will accomplish this goal more effectively than strength training combined with flexibility training. However, strength and flexibility training did not result in a decline in range of motion, in fact provided modest improvements. The strength & flexibility program also provided additional benefits such as reduction in body fat and increased strength.

Short term heavy strength training can lead to significant strength gains that can last at least 8 weeks after the completion of training. This has implications for those who are involved in strength training on a sporadic basis. A substantial break in the training program does not result in a loss of the substantial strength gains.

When the strength of an untrained leg is compared to the strength of the leg undergoing heavy strength training, there are no significant gender differences in eccentric or concentric strength responses in older individuals. Therefore, both older women and men can expect similar responses to strength training of the leg extensors.

In contrast to previous reports, these results show that the increased muscle size in response to strength training is greater in men than in women regardless of age. It also suggests that increased muscle size in response to strength training is not significantly different in a younger verses an older group.

These data show that high-intensity, progressive strength training results in substantial and continual strength increases in post menopausal women for at least 12 months. The greatest gains were seen in the first 3 months of training. The evidence that you can expect to see improvement in strength over 38 at least a one year period is important both physically and psychologically. It means that your programming should support achievement of long range strength gains. In addition participants should be aware that they can expect a plateau effect at around 3 months, but with continued strength training will likely experience a gradual increase for at least the following 9 months.

High intensity strength training is safe and effective for preserving physical function even in subjects with chronic conditions such as arthritis, hypertension or coronary artery disease. Improved physical function can in return help frail adults cope with their chronic conditions.

Changes in body composition with strength training do not appear to be connected to increases in physical activity levels outside of training. Therefore the changes are a direct result of the strength training program.

This study demonstrates that there may be an increase in Chromium absorption in response to strength training as determined by the increased excretion of the Chromium isotope.It also suggests that some of the improvements in glucose and insulin metabolism due to exercise could be related to increased Chromium absorption.

A strength training program can accelerate whole bowel transit time in previously sedentary middle-aged and older men with the primary effect appearing to be in the large intestines.

These results underscore the contribution of a quantitative loss in muscle CSA (size of muscle, numbers of fiber types, etc.) to muscle weakness in the elderly. An important element of these results is that baseline (beginning) strength was also a significant contributor to the loss of strength with aging. The magnitude of the changes in this group of healthy men with few medical problems suggest stronger exercise recommendations are needed to prevent sarcopenia and the early onset of disability. In addition, the larger reductions in strength observed in muscles of the lower body compared to the upper body, highlight the need for practitioners to emphasize lower body strength in exercise for older adults.

This data indicates that healthy older men can participate in a strength training program intense enough to substantially increase muscle strength and size without exhibiting symptoms of muscle injury. It also shows that regular training appears to result in a reduction of muscle cell injury after single bouts of heavy strength exercise. This study provides reinforcement for the message that older adults do not have to expect muscle soreness or injury when participating in strength training. Please note that Keiser's pneumatic resistance is very low-impact and may be responsible for the lack of soreness and muscle cell injury. Similar studies done on weight stack equipment may not produce the same results.

These results indicate that middle-aged and older men can safely participate in a total body strength training program, intense enough to produce substantial increases in muscle strength and size, without promoting muscle soreness or injury. Furthermore, in older individuals, the risk of muscle injury during strength training is reduced at the end of a training program to levels similar to those reported in younger individuals.

These results indicate that heavy strength training increases resting metabolic rate in healthy older men, perhaps by increasing fat free mass and sympathetic nervous system activity. Increasing the resting metabolic rate through strength training can help individuals manage their body weight, and prevent obesity along with its many health consequences.

Results indicate that a single bout of strength training causes a substantial human growth hormone response in older men, but 16 weeks of progressive resistive training does not affect beginning concentrations of growth hormones or any other anabolic hormones. This confirms the results of other studies which show that the immediate increases in growth hormone levels after training are not maintained or built upon. Instead these levels return to beginning levels shortly after each training bout.

In older men strength training does not appear to affect the beginning hormone levels over a 16 week period of time. However, a single session of strength training causes a substantial rise in growth hormone when tested immediately after the training session. This rise after a single bout was the same during the 2 days after the completion of the 16 week program as it was during the 2 days prior to the exercise program. Therefore the degree of the rise in growth hormone after a single session is not affected by strength training over a 16 week period. The growth hormone level does not appear to build to higher levels as the strength training program progresses, instead it appears to return to baseline shortly after training.

This study tests whether strength training lowers insulin levels in older individuals by increasing insulin sensitivity (more efficient distribution and usage) and whether these changes are due to changes in body composition. Eleven healthy sedentary men 50-75 years whose diet and weight had been stabilized for one month, were measured for glucose and insulin responses and insulin sensitivity. Subjects trained 3 times per week for 16 weeks, exercising all major muscle groups on Keiser K-300 machines.

These results suggest that the increase in insulin sensitivity (efficiency of use) is primarily due to increased non-oxidative glucose metabolism. An increase in insulin sensitivity has implication for diabetes prevention and control in older adults.

These results demonstrate that strength training increases insulin action and lowers insulin levels in the bloodstream of middle-aged and older men. They also confirm the link with substantial increases in nonoxidative glucose metabolism. The more efficient use of insulin and metabolism of glucose has significant implications for prevention and management of diabetes in older adults.

These data showed that strength training by older men changed some indexes of iron but did not result in changes in a wide range of blood indexes. There were some changes suggested in iron transport, but these changes were not significantly affected by chromium supplementation. Chromium supplementation at the level used in this study, does not appear to compromise iron status or predispose the subjects to iron deficiency anemia.

This study demonstrates that high intensity PRT is effective in the management of diabetes in a high-risk population of older adults with poor glycemic control. Resistance training significantly improved glycemic control, increased fat free mass, reduced the requirement for diabetes medications, reduced abdominal fat and systolic blood pressure, and increased muscle strength and spontaneous physical activity.

This research suggests that resistance training decreases the insulin response following an oral glucose challenge in older moderately overweight men and women without affecting glucose tolerance. The data also suggest that the decrease in insulin circulating in the blood stream may result from an increase in insulin clearance from the circulation, not a decrease in insulin secretion. High-dose Cr-pic supplementation does not appear to have an effect on any measure of glucose metabolism during RT. This study does, however, support previous studies showing that resistance training can play a role in diabetes prevention and control.

Improvements in insulin-sensitivity were not related to changes in aerobic capacity, body composition or strength. These results suggest that strength training may reduce the insulin resistance associated with aging, perhaps by altering glucose uptake from muscle tissue. Improved efficiency of insulin usage has significant implications for the prevention and management of diabetes.

This study shows that strength training can increase femoral neck bone mineral density. This effect does not appear to be accompanied by changes in anabolic hormones or markers of bone formation and resorption. Increasing bone mineral density has implications for the prevention and control of osteoporosis.

Strength training increases femoral neck bone mineral density in older men. This effect is not connected to changes in blood levels of hormones, or markers of bone formation or resorption. This study confirms the findings of study # 17.

These findings suggest that strength training increases regional bone mineral density by increasing bone formation. It is important to note that bone formation increased regionally i.e. in those areas where the “load” or resistance was applied. This same principle has been demonstrated before in studies of tennis athletes. Their dominant arms showed higher bone formation than their non-dominant arms, due to the “load” applied through continuous use with a tennis racket. Increased bone formation has important implications for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis.

Strength training decreases regional and total fat mass and increases regional and total lean mass in older men. These changes are not related to changes in hormone levels. An increase in lean body mass and decrease in fat mass can help prevent obesity and it’s complications. These changes in body composition also help older adults maintain physical function and prevent frailty.

Strength training is an effective way to increase energy requirement, decrease fat mass, and maintain lean body mass in healthy older people. It can be very useful in weight control programs for older adults. The demonstrated increase in resting metabolic rate is an important aspect of this research. Many seniors are bewildered by the fact that they are eating less and still gaining weight. This is generally due to decreased physical activity but also speaks to the resultant decline of lean body mass. It requires very little energy to maintain body fat, which is inactive tissue. However, since lean body mass is active tissue it requires significantly higher energy expenditure (calories) to maintain, even at complete rest. When an individual is trying to lose weight increased energy expenditure is critical to success.

Older adults can increase muscle and decrease fat with a strength training program, even when limb circumference is unchanged. This research provides data to share with the many senior women who avoid strength training because they equate increased strength with increased size. The results demonstrate that strength training can help seniors significantly increase their strength to more effectively respond to functional needs, without increasing limb size.

This article provides a thorough comparison of the use of aerobic exercise verses progressive resistance training in the management of type 2 diabetes in obese elderly patients. It highlights the benefits as well as limitations of both forms of exercise intervention. It is an excellent resource for anyone creating a program for diabetes management with older populations, and/or seeking to add strength training to program offerings for seniors.

This study provides the first evidence of skeletal muscle remodeling in response to resistance training in frail individuals of extreme old age. Age-related sarcopenia appears largely confined to type II muscle fibers suggesting that interventions aimed specifically at stimulating type II fibers (e.g., contractions demanding high force output, i.e. power) may be most effective in the prevention and treatment of sarcopenia. Muscle hypertrophy was linked to higher caloric intake suggesting that adequate energy balance is a critical component of treating sarcopenia with exercise in frail elders.

The improvement in insulin response appears to be independent of changes in body composition and urinary chromium excretion. It is clear however that strength training promotes more efficient distribution and utilization of insulin which has implications for prevention and management of diabetes.

Contrary to the opinion of many professionals, these data suggest that when similar resistances (80%) are used, pliometric muscle actions on their own do not result in greater muscle soreness. However, it is clear that greater resistance (120%) during the pliometric muscle action did result in greater soreness. Therefore, it seems that pliometric muscle actions themselves are not to blame for increased muscle soreness. Instead, -either the greater resistance (120%), or the greater amount of negative work compared with the positive work (120% vs. 80%), or both, are responsible for greater muscle soreness. In addition, increased muscle soreness in group 2 did not appear to affect their exercise performance. Please note that Keiser equipments pneumatic resistance is very low-impact and also provides a regulated strength curve. These advantages may be responsible for the lack of delayed onset muscle soreness. Similar studies done on weight stack equipment may not produce the same results.

High-intensity progressive resistance training improves impaired skeletal muscle characteristics and overall exercise performance in older women with CHF. These gains are largely explained by changes in skeletal muscle and not resting cardiac adaptations. By increasing exercise tolerance, PRT has the potential to significantly improve the quality of life of those with CHF.

These results indicate that strength training may lower diastolic resting blood pressure in 65-75 year old men and women, and systolic blood pressure in men. This has implications for helping control hypertension.

These results suggest that strength training does not change the processes responsible for higher rates of protein breakdown in individuals with rheumatoid arthritis. However, these processes do not prevent the successful use of strength training to reverse muscle weakness. Strength training can be used to improve strength and functional status in those with rheumatoid arthritis.

High intensity strength training exercises are an effective way to preserve bone density and improve muscle mass, strength and balance in post menopausal women. Increases in bone mineral content muscle mass, strength and balance with strength training are even more significant when contrasted with the loss in all of these areas experienced by the sedentary controls. Maintaining bone density and preventing falls through improved strength and balance can significantly reduce the risk for osteoporotic fractures.

This area is designed to provide you with an overview of the considerable amount of research in older adult fitness that has been conducted using Keiser strength training equipment.