STRENGTH TRAINING IN OLD AGE IS EFFECTIVE AND IMPORTANT!
As we age, we lose muscle mass, which is accompanied by a decrease in muscle strength and can lead to functional limitations and even loss of independence. In the age of over 50, this loss can 10 TO 15% PER DECADE The causes include reduced secretion of anabolic hormones, an inactive lifestyle, poor nutrition and diseases. Although strength training shows greater absolute effects in young people, the relative changes in old age seem to be the same.
A Finnish study by Sallinen et al. compared young, untrained people with 50-year-old and 70-year-old strength athletes and normal people of this age. The strength athletes had a greater fat-free body mass than untrained people of the same age, and younger men also showed higher values here. There were no significant group differences in the thickness of the vastus lateralis, but the senior athletes had a greater absolute strength of this muscle or strength/cross-section compared to all untrained groups. Dietary habits had no effect on strength and showed no dependence on age.
The data emphasize the great importance of continuous strength training even in old age, which can counteract the loss of muscle mass but above all the loss of strength in old age.