I ran a quick medline search and found these abstracts that might be of some interest:
******************************************
Age and gender responses to strength training and detraining.
Lemmer JT, Hurlbut DE, Martel GF, Tracy BL, Ivey FM, Metter EJ, Fozard JL, Fleg JL, Hurley BF
Med Sci Sports Exerc 2000 Aug 32:1505-12
Abstract
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of age and gender on the strength response to strength training (ST) and detraining. METHODS: Eighteen young (20-30 yr) and 23 older (65-75 yr) men and women had their one-repetition maximum (1 RM) and isokinetic strength measured before and after 9 wk of unilateral knee extension ST (3 d x wk(-1)) and 31 wk of detraining. RESULTS: The young subjects demonstrated a significantly greater (P < 0.05) increase in 1 RM strength (34+/-3%; 73+/-5 vs 97+/-6 kg; P < 0.01) than the older subjects (28+/-3%; 60+/-4 vs 76+/-5 kg, P < 0.01). There were no significant differences in strength gains between men and women in either age group with 9 wk of ST or in strength losses with 31 wk of detraining. Young men and women experienced an 8+/-2% decline in 1 RM strength after 31 wk of detraining (97+/-6 vs 89+/-6 kg, P < 0.05). This decline was significantly less than the 14+/-2% decline in the older men and women (76+/-5 vs 65+/-4 kg, P < 0.05). This strength loss occurred primarily between 12 and 31 wk of detraining with a 6+/-2% and 13+/-2% decrease in the young and older subjects, respectively, during this period. DISCUSSION: These results demonstrate that changes in 1 RM strength in response to both ST and detraining are affected by age. However, ST-induced increases in muscular strength appear to be maintained equally well in young and older men and women during 12 wk of detraining and are maintained above baseline levels even after 31 wk of detraining in young men, young women, and older men.
**********************************************************
Muscle size responses to strength training in young and older men and women.
Roth SM, Ivey FM, Martel GF, Lemmer JT, Hurlbut DE, Siegel EL, Metter EJ, Fleg JL, Fozard JL, Kostek MC, Wernick DM, Hurley BF
J Am Geriatr Soc 2001 Nov 49:1428-33
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To examine the possible influences of age and gender on muscle volume responses to strength training (ST). DESIGN: Prospective intervention study. SETTING: University of Maryland Exercise Science and Wellness Research Laboratories. PARTICIPANTS: Eight young men (age 20-30 years), six young women (age 20-30 years), nine older men (age 65-75 years), and ten older women (age 65-75 years). INTERVENTION: A 6-month whole-body ST program that exercised all major muscle groups of the upper and lower body 3 days/week. MEASUREMENTS: Thigh and quadriceps muscle volumes and mid-thigh muscle cross-sectional area (CSA) were assessed by magnetic resonance imaging before and after the ST program. RESULTS: Thigh and quadriceps muscle volume increased significantly in all age and gender groups as a result of ST (P < .001), with no significant differences between the groups. Modest correlations were observed between both the change in quadriceps versus the change in total thigh muscle volume (r = 0.65; P < .001) and the change in thigh muscle volume versus the change in mid-thigh CSA (r = 0.76, P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that neither age nor gender affects muscle volume response to whole-body ST. Muscle volume, rather than muscle CSA, is recommended for studying muscle mass responses to ST.
*************************************************
Muscle quality. II. Effects Of strength training in 65- to 75-yr-old men and women.
Tracy BL, Ivey FM, Hurlbut D, Martel GF, Lemmer JT, Siegel EL, Metter EJ, Fozard JL, Fleg JL, Hurley BF
J Appl Physiol 1999 Jan 86:195-201
Abstract
To determine the effects of strength training (ST) on muscle quality (MQ, strength/muscle volume of the trained muscle group), 12 healthy older men (69 +/- 3 yr, range 65-75 yr) and 11 healthy older women (68 +/- 3 yr, range 65-73 yr) were studied before and after a unilateral leg ST program. After a warm-up set, four sets of heavy-resistance knee extensor ST exercise were performed 3 days/wk for 9 wk on the Keiser K-300 leg extension machine. The men exhibited greater absolute increases in the knee extension one-repetition maximum (1-RM) strength test (75 +/- 2 and 94 +/- 3 kg before and after training, respectively) and in quadriceps muscle volume measured by magnetic resonance imaging (1,753 +/- 44 and 1, 955 +/- 43 cm3) than the women (42 +/- 2 and 55 +/- 3 kg for the 1-RM test and 1,125 +/- 53 vs. 1,261 +/- 65 cm3 for quadriceps muscle volume before and after training, respectively, in women; both P < 0.05). However, percent increases were similar for men and women in the 1-RM test (27 and 29% for men and women, respectively), muscle volume (12% for both), and MQ (14 and 16% for men and women, respectively). Significant increases in MQ were observed in both groups in the trained leg (both P < 0.05) and in the 1-RM test for the untrained leg (both P < 0.05), but no significant differences were observed between groups, suggesting neuromuscular adaptations in both gender groups. Thus, although older men appear to have a greater capacity for absolute strength and muscle mass gains than older women in response to ST, the relative contribution of neuromuscular and hypertrophic factors to the increase in strength appears to be similar between genders.
***********************************
|