Injuries and adherence to walk/jog and resistance training programs in the elderly

To evaluate the effects of 26 wk of aerobic and resistance training on the incidence of injury and program adherence in 70- to 79-yr-old men and women, 57 healthy volunteers (25 males, 32 females) were randomly assigned to a walk/jog (W/J, N = 21), strength (STREN, N = 23), or control (CONT, N = 13) group. Walk/jog training was for 30-45 min, 3 d.wk-1 with intensity equal to 40-70% heart rate max reserve (HRmax reserve) during the first 13 wk, and 75-85% HRmax reserve for weeks 14-26. STREN training consisted of one set (10-12 repetitions) each of 10 variable resistance exercises performed to volitional fatigue. Forty-nine of the original participants completed the training program. Walk/jog training increased VO2max from 22.5 to 27.1 ml.kg-1.min-1 (P less than or equal to 0.05) while STREN and CONT showed no change. STREN improved significantly in chest press and leg extension strength (P less than or equal to 0.05) while W/J and CONT showed no change. Adherence to training was 20/23 (87%) and 17/21 (81%) in STREN and W/J, respectively. One repetition maximum (1-RM) strength testing resulted in 11 injuries in the 57 subjects (19.3%) while STREN training resulted in only two injuries in 23 subjects (8.7%). Walk training during weeks 1-13 resulted in one injury in 21 subjects (4.8%). Eight of 14 subjects (57%) who began jogging intervals at week 14 incurred an injury: two of eight (25%) of the men and all of the women (6 of 6). All W/J training injuries were to the lower extremity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)