Title: Older People Must Work Out More to Keep Muscles
Headings: Older People Must Work Out More to Keep Muscles
Older People Must Work Out More to Keep Muscles
Study Shows People Over Age 60 Need to Lift Weights More Often to Maintain Muscle Mass
Preventing Muscle Loss
further reading

Content: Thirty-nine of the study participants were aged 60 to 75; the remainder ranged in age from 20 to 35. For the first four months, everybody did the same exercises three times a week: three sets of knee extensions, leg presses, and squats. Each participant steadily increased the amount of resistance over that period. By the end of this first part of the study, everyone -- young and old -- had gained muscle. The second phase was designed to reveal how much of that muscle would be lost to inactivity or reduced exercise. To start, the researchers randomly divided the participants into three groups. Then, for the next 32 weeks, one group did no exercise at all, another group did the same exercises as before but only one day per week, while the third group reduced their regimen to one set of exercises once a week. Continued
By the end of the study, the differences between the young and old groups were striking.