ENDURANCE TRAINING AND OLDER ADULTS

There are multiple factors that contribute to the decline in the functional capacity of the aging adult. 
However, it has been shown that older adults are able to adapt to endurance training (and strength training which I will be discussing in an upcoming post) and this in turn slows down functional decline and enhances performance in fit older individuals to the point where their fitness level can rival that of inactive individuals many years their junior.


The Bad News or Some of the Effects of Aging:

VO2 Max (The maximal amount of oxygen your body can consume) decreases starting around the age of 25 to 30 at an approximate rate of 5 to 15 percent per decade.  This is due to age related declines in maximal  VO2 difference (the difference between oxygen concentration in the arteries and the oxygen concentration in the veins) and maximal cardiac output ( the amount of blood that is pumped by the heart per unit time, measured in liters per minute ).

• Maximal heart rate decreases approximately 6 to 10 beats per minute per decade.
• Reduction of stroke volume during exercise
• decline in muscle oxidative activity
• decline in mitochondria
• reduced left ventricle contractability
• decreases in vascular (decreased capillarization etc.) capacity
• loss of lung elasticity
• changes in the diaphragm and decline in performance of breathing muscles

The Good News or The Effects of Aerobic/Endurance Exercise:

• Increases VO2 Max which means there can be  an increase in energy for the older adult.  There can be a 10 to 30 percent increase in VO2 max that is comparable to younger adults in response to endurance training.
• Increases in energy burning (oxidative enzymes) in the muscles
• Increases in the number of capillaries that provide oxygen to the muscle fibers
• Improvement in the condition of the breathing muscles which in turn helps offset the loss of VO2 max due to age related loss of lung elasticity
• Improvement in the ability to tolerate higher levels of physical effort as well as improvement in submaximal endurance performance.  The level at which these improvements occur is dependent upon the degree of training intensity.

Participation in a regular aerobic/endurance programme throughout a lifetime clearly will help  reduce many health risks and ameliorate the difficulties confronted by the aging adult.

• Exerise and the Older Adult.  Written for the American College of Sports Medicine by Robert S. Mazzeo, Ph.D., FACSM  http://www.ascm.org 
• AIR IT ALL OUT! Page 72 Exercise & Health: The Fitness Guide for Men Fall 2011

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