Moderate Intensity Resistive Training Reduces Oxidative Stress and Improves Muscle Mass and Function in Older Individuals

An innovative moderate-intensity resistive exercise-training (RT) program was tested in\r\nthirty-five sarcopenic elders (SAR). The subjects were randomized into two groups: SAR training\r\n(SAR-RT), n = 20, 73.0 5.5 years, or SAR non-training (SAR-NT), n = 15, 71.7 3.4 years. The training\r\nconsisted of 12-week progressive RT, thrice/week, at 60% one-repetition maximum (1RM), 3 sets,\r\n14–16 repetitions for both upper and lower limbs. The pre and post intervention measurements\r\nincluded: the skeletal muscle index (SMI%); strength (1RM); stair-climbing power (SCP); muscle\r\nthickness (MT) of vastus lateralis (VL) and elbow flexors (EF), VL pennation angle (PA), rectus\r\nfemoris (RF) anatomical cross-sectional area (ACSA); reactive oxygen species (ROS), total antioxidant\r\ncapacity (TAC), protein carbonyls (PC), thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), 8-isoprostane\r\n(8-iso-PGF2-), 8-OH-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OH-dG), as markers of oxidative stress/damage (OxS).\r\nIn SAR-RT, SCP increased by 7.7% (P < 0.01), MT increased by 5.5% for VL, 10.4% for EF and PA\r\nincreased by 13.4% for VL (P < 0.001 for all). The RF ACSA increased by 14.5% (P < 0.001). 1RM\r\nsignificantly increased by at least 67% for all muscles tested. Notably muscle strength (1RM) positively\r\ncorrelated (P < 0.001) with TAC and negatively with PC (P < 0.001). In conclusion, moderate intensity\r\nRT is an eective strategy to increase muscle mass and strength in SAR, while minimizing OxS.