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Updated: Aug 23, 2026
Improving Strength, Power, Muscle Aerobic Capacity, and Glucose Tolerance through Short-term Progressive Strength Training Among Elderly People
Published on: July 5, 2017
Elderly obese women display the greatest improvement in stair climbing performance after a 3-week body mass reduction
A Sartorio1, C L Lafortuna, F Agosti
1Division of Metabolic Diseases III, Istituto Auxologico Italiano, IRCCS, Piancavallo (VB), Italy. sartorio@auxologico.it
Objective:
To investigate whether stair climbing performance and body composition are similarly affected by a body mass reduction (BMR) program in obese individuals of different gender, age and body mass index (BMI) level.
Design:
Longitudinal, clinical intervention study entailing energy-restricted diet (5023-7535 kJ/day), nutritional education, psychological counselling and moderate physical activity (indoor cycling, outdoor walking, gymnastics routines, five sessions/week) during a 3-week period.
Subjects:
A total of 466 male and 807 female subjects categorized as a function of gender, age (< vs >/=50 y) and BMI (< vs >/=40 kg/m(2)).
Measurements:
Body mass, stair climbing time and power before and after the BMR program. Fat-free mass and fat mass were also evaluated by bioimpedance analysis, in a representative subgroup of 160 patients, to evaluate the relation between fat-free mass and power output.
Results:
Body mass, fat-free mass and fat mass significantly decreased following the BMR program (P<0.001), with male subjects reducing body mass and fat-free mass more than and fat mass less than the female subjects. Stair climbing time decreased (P<0.001) and therefore anaerobic power significantly increased 9.7% after the treatment. The greatest improvement in stair climbing performance was observed in obese women aged >/=50 y. Significant inverse correlations were found between initial power or fat-free mass level and respective percent increases (R=-0.35/-0.37, P<0.001) and between BMR-induced percent changes in body mass and power (R=-0.13, P<0.001).
Conclusion:
Subjects with the lowest baseline level in stair climbing performance (and probably with the lowest amount of fat-free mass), that is, obese women aged more than 50 y, obtained the largest enhancement after the 3-week BMR program, likely improving overall functional capacities and resulting in greater independence during daily-living activities in such a population.
