Abstract
Sarcopenia and weakness are known to precipitate risk for disability, comorbidity,
and diminished independence among aging adults. Resistance exercise has been proposed
as a viable intervention to elicit muscular adaptation and improve function. However,
the reported prevalence of resistance exercise participation among US adults aged
>50 years is very low. This may be largely attributable to inconsistency in study
results that fail to fully inform the clinical and public health community of its
overall value. Therefore, the purpose of this commentary review is to report the findings
of recently published meta-analyses that systematically examined the overall value
of resistance exercise among healthy aging adults for strength and lean body mass
outcomes. Evidence reveals that not only is resistance exercise very effective for
eliciting strength gain and increases in lean body mass, but that there is a dose-response
relationship such that volume and intensity are strongly associated with adaptations.
These findings reflect and support the viability of progression in resistance exercise
dosage to accommodate optimal muscular adaptive response. Progressive resistance exercise
should thus be encouraged among healthy adults to minimize degenerative muscular function
associated with aging.
Keywords
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Article Info
Footnotes
Funding: None.
Conflict of Interest: None.
Authorship: Both authors had complete access to the data and a played a significant role in writing the manuscript.
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© 2011 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
