Fewer workouts maintain strength training gains

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The benefits of whole-body progressive strength training workouts persist -- and grow - for middle-age men, even after they switch to a less intense workout schedule, according to the results of a new study published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine.

Men who completed two strength training workouts each week for 21 weeks showed gains in leg strength, and walking and stair-climbing speed, as well as reductions in resting blood pressure, compared with a group of men, the "control" group, who didn't take part in strength training, Dr. Janne Sallinen of the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland and colleagues found.

When the exercisers reduced their workout schedule to three sessions every two weeks for an additional 21 weeks, they continued to show gains in maximal strength over the first 10 weeks and these gains persisted until the end of the 42-week study.

There have been few long-term investigations of the health effects of strength training in older men, Sallinen and colleagues note. To investigate and determine whether fewer than the minimum recommended two or three training sessions each week could maintain fitness levels, they randomly assigned 44 men to intensive strength training for 42 weeks or to regular exercise activities without strength workouts. The average age was about 58 years for both groups.

After the first 21 weeks of the study, the men in the strength training group showed a 19.6 percent increase in maximal leg extensor strength compared with 2.8 percent for the control group. They also significantly reduced their 10-meter walking and 10-step stair climbing times. As mentioned, the improvements in strength and speed persisted for the 21 weeks of reduced training that followed.

After the entire 42-week study period, average diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number in a blood pressure reading) had fallen by 8.9 percent in the strength training group compared with a 1-percent decline in the control group.

"Training-induced positive effects on muscular fitness and health were maintained by the reduced frequency of intensive strength training," the researchers write. "These findings suggest that strength training could be recommended as a part of a well-rounded training program in aging men."

SOURCE: International Journal of Sports Medicine, October 2007.