european college of sport science

PP-HF11 Health and Fitness 11
LOW-LOAD SLOW RESISTANCE TRAINING CAUSES MUSCLE HYPERTROPHY AND STRENGTH GAIN, BUT DOES NOT
IMPROVE MOTILITY FUNCTION IN ELDERLY PEOPLE.
TANIMOTO, M., WATANABE, Y., OHGANE, A., ISHII, N., MIYACHI, M.
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH AND NUTRITION
BACKGROUND It has been reported that resistance training at intensities lower than 65% of one repetition maximum (65%1RM) is virtually
ineffective for increasing muscle size and strength. However, the concept of enhancing exercise movement variation was not explored in
these studies. When exercise movement is designed to place muscles under continuous tension throughout the exercise movement,
resistance training, even with low-intensity loads of less than 65% 1RM, promotes muscle hypertrophy and increases strength. We previously
reported that relatively low-load (50% 1RM) resistance training with slow movement and tonic force generation (named LST) caused
as significant an increase in muscular size and strength as high-load (80% 1RM) resistance training with normal speed in young men.
However, that study targeted a limited age group. PURPOSE The present study was performed to examine whether LST is effective for
muscle hypertrophy and strength gain in elderly people as well. METHODS Thirty-two healthy elderly men and women were assigned
into two groups and performed resistance training regimens comprised of knee-extension and knee flexion by the following methods:
low-load (50% 1RM) with slow movement and tonic force generation (3 s for eccentric and concentric actions, and no relaxing phase; LST);
low-load (same load as for LST) with normal speed (1 s for concentric and eccentric actions, 1 s for relaxing; LN). Each exercise session
consisting of 8 repetitions and 3 sets was performed 2 times a week for 12 weeks. The load of LST (50%1RM) was about 8RM load with LST
movement. In LN, both load and amount of work were matched with those in LST. Muscle mass, strength, and motility function were
measured before and after the training intervention period. RESULTS LST training caused significant increases in muscle thickness in thigh
(+9.7±3.3% in men, +4.1±5.4% in women), and significant increases in knee extension and flexion torques, whereas LN training did not
cause increase in muscle thickness in thigh. However, LST training did not improve motility functions such as walk speed and sit-to-stand
times. CONCLUSION The results suggest that LST resistance training is effective for improving basic ability of muscles through muscular
hypertrophy, but does not improve motility functions such as coordination ability in daily life activities. When LST is adopted to improve
muscle strength and motility functions, it should be combined with exercises that improve motility functions, such as plyometric training.
THE EFFECT OF 6-MONTHS EXERCISE INTERVENTION ON THE BRAIN FUNCTION, QUALITY OF LIFE, AND PHYSICAL
FITNESS IN THE MIDDLE-AGED AND ELDERLY JAPANESE
MINAMI, S., KASAOKA, S., KONISHI, Y., INOUE, T., TANIGUCHI, Y.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND MEDICINE RESEARCH CENTER UNNAN AND INTERNATIONAL BUDO UNIVERSITY
Introduction: It was reported that six months aerobic training (Kramer, A. F., et al., 1999) or resistance exercise (Cassilhas, R. C., et al.,
2007) intervention improved cognitive function of the elderly. However there are few studies about the effect on the brain function by the
overall fitness program in which many people popularly participate for improving their physical fitness. We investigated whether the brain
function in middle-aged and elderly people were affected by the participation in 6-months exercise program which included aerobic and
anaerobic exercise and whether the change of brain function and quality of life (QOL) were related to the change of physical fitness.
Methods: Eight men and six women (mean age 62.9 ± 6.2 years old) participated in a 6-months exercise program. All the subjects gave
their informed consent for participation in the study. One hour exercise class, including aerobic exercise, strength exercise and stretching,
was held once a week. Before and after the 6-months exercise program, the brain function, health-related QOL, and physical fitness of
subjects were evaluated. In present study, brain function was evaluated by the revised version of Hasegawa’s Dementia Scale (HDS-R)
and a modified Stroop task. QOL was scored by the Short Form-36 (SF-36) (Ware, J. and Scherboume, C., 1992). Grip strength, sit-andreach,
whole-body reaction time, static balance test, sit-up, estimated maximal oxygen uptake and leg extension power were measured
as physical fitness. A one-factor analysis of variance with two times (before and after) was introduced into the analysis for the brain
function, QOL, and physical fitness.
Results and Discussion: Grip strength (pre 34.9 ± 7.7 kg, post 33.5 ± 7.5 kg, P