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Updated: Feb 28, 2026

Improving Strength, Power, Muscle Aerobic Capacity, and Glucose Tolerance through Short-term Progressive Strength Training Among Elderly People
Published on: July 5, 2017
Effects of increased participation on veteran running performance
Bernard Cerutti1, Bengt Kayser1,2
1a Faculty of Medicine , University of Geneva , Geneva , Switzerland.
Abstract:
Contrary to elite performance that is approaching an asymptote, recent analyses suggested a trend for improvement in veterans. This might be attributable to a disproportionate increase in older age-group participation. We extracted 26 years (1987-2012) of men's results of a running event in Switzerland, "La Course de l'Escalade" (7.25 km). We investigated trends in performance by five-year age-groups, taking the 10, 20, 30, and 50 fastest in each group, and then the 1st, 5th, and 10th percentiles. Taking the 10, 20, 30 or 50 fastest runners there was a trend for improvement ranging from 0.07 to 0.22 min·year-1 (p < .0001; 95% CI -0.083 to -0.049 and p < .0001; 95% CI -0.250 to -0.196 respectively) in the elder age-groups. Taking the 1st, 5th, and 10th percentiles there were no trends for improvement, and actual deteriorations up to 0.13 (p < .0001; 95% CI +0.119 to +0.138) min·year-1. Mixed-effect models with repeated measures for runners, confirmed a global deteriorating trend with an estimate of +0.11 min·year-1 (p < .0001; 95% CI +0.107 to +0.116). The results suggest that increases in performance in older runners arise from modifications of sampling from a growing population.
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