Year: 2022
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Age-related difficulties in activities of daily living (ADL) are more prevalent in women, and might be associated with differences in muscle performance between older men and women (e.g., women demonstrate earlier declines in muscle strength compared to men across the lifespan). Power training (PT) has been shown to be an effective resistance training (RT) strategy for improving muscle performance and functional outcomes in older adults, however, with significant gaps in our understanding of the effects of manipulating training frequency and/or intensity. The current work sought to investigate the effects of PT intensity and weekly frequency on lower body muscle power and functional performance in older women. The first study, a systematic review, provides evidence that PT utilizing light, moderate, or heavy training intensities can all lead to significant improvements in muscle strength, power, and functional performance in older adults. Having demonstrated the longer-term reliability of test-retest muscle power and functional performance in older women (Study 2), the impact of PT frequency (1, 2, and 3 days/week) on these outcomes was investigated in a randomized controlled trial (Study 3). In these older women, PT 1 day/week did not produce significant gains in muscle power, however, all PT frequencies demonstrated improvements in muscle strength and functional performance post-study. Given the variable changes observed in each group after PT, an investigation of the individual responses in muscle power and functional performance was performed (Study 4), where a large variability in response was found for each measure and for each individual across measures. Study 4 demonstrated that every participant improved in at least one measure after PT, supporting the importance of including multiple outcomes when assessing the effectiveness of an exercise program. This work extends previous findings of the benefits of low-intensity PT 3 days/week with support for 1 and 2 sessions/week for improvements in muscle strength and functional capacity, and 2 weekly sessions for gains in muscle power in healthy, older women. The evidence presented herein expands viable training options for a broader range of individuals, including clinical populations, for whom higher training intensities and/or frequencies are not possible or preferable.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Katsoulis, Konstantina
Institution: University of Toronto
Language: English
Subfield: Physiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7133037014