It’s never too late – exercise interventions to attenuate age-related muscle loss - Prof. Wessner

Invited Session at ECSS Vienna 2016 "Strategies to combat sarcopenia"

It’s never too late – exercise interventions to attenuate age-related muscle loss
Wessner, B.
University of Vienna

Sarcopenia as defined by the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People is characterized by the age-related loss of muscle mass, strength and function [1]. In order to stay physically (and mentally) fit and healthy, exercise training (aerobic, muscle strengthening, balance and flexibility training) is suggested for older adults [2]. Especially, resistance training has been proven to effectively increase muscle mass, strength and function even at a higher age, whereby an intensity progression from about 40% to
80% of the individual one repetition maximum is suggested when starting an exercise program [3] indicating that high intensities
would be needed to induce substantial gains in muscle strength and mass. However, a previous meta-analysis has shown that
resistance training at lower than traditionally recommended intensities is also effective, when a sufficient number of repetitions is performed [4]. Besides the classical resistance training other training modalities (vibration training, elastic-band resistance training, concurrent training …) will be discussed with respect to their effectiveness to prevent or combat sarcopenia.

1. Cruz-Jentoft AJ, Baeyens JP, Bauer JM, Boirie Y, Cederholm T, Landi F et al. Sarcopenia: European consensus on definition and
diagnosis: Report of the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People. Age Ageing. 2010;39(4):412-23.
2. American College of Sports Medicine, Chodzko-Zajko WJ, Proctor DN, Fiatarone Singh MA, Minson CT, Nigg CR et al. American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Exercise and physical activity for older adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009;41(7):1510-30.
3. American College of Sports Medicine. American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Progression models in resistance
training for healthy adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009;41(3):687-708.
4. Csapo R, Alegre LM. Effects of resistance training with moderate vs heavy loads on muscle mass and strength in the elderly: A meta-analysis. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2015. doi:10.1111/sms.12536.