CARING FOR ATHLETES
Strength Training for the Elderly Athlete
Athletics are not exclusively reserved for any one specific age group. It is commonplace today to read about athletic events that include competition categories for children through the elderly. The most apparent elderly athletic competition includes the Senior’s PGA Tour and the recently developed Senior Professional Baseball Circuit in Florida. However, senior athletic participation is not for professional competition only. Senior athletes participate in athletics for the same reason that athletes of other age groups participate.
In planning an exercise program for a senior athlete specific considerations should be recognized. Research at the Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston reveals that aging causes lower extremity muscle weakness and increases the risk of falling. Statistics show that falling is a major problem, whereby 40% of people over the age of 65 fall at least once a year. Elderly athletes must carefully consider muscle weakness of their lower extremities to be uniqueness to their age category. With this in mind, training and conditioning programs should include strengthening goals regarding the lower extremities. While the importance of increasing strength is recognized in the elderly, the lack of aerobic fitness in the elderly tends to be a hindrance in accomplishing strengthening goals. There is minimal research available advising us about the cardiovascular risks associated with strength training in the elderly. However, if you have a family history of cardiovascular disease and/or have been diagnosed to suffer from any cardiovascular ailment, you should receive specific guidelines regarding exercise from your cardiologist. Objective cardiovascular stress tests can be performed to determine your specific exercise guidelines and cardiovascular stress parameters.
Research tells us that stronger muscles reduce the amount of wear and tear type stress that is placed on our joint surfaces. It is safe to assume that if you have strong muscles supporting your joints, you can significantly minimize your joints’ osteoarthritic changes. With this in mind it is recommended that strength training be a major component of elderly athletes conditioning program and activities such as jogging should be substituted with a program of strength training, walking, and/or other low-impact aerobic activities.
In summary, senior athletes should participate in athletic activities so to enjoy the dividends of sports and play. Many senior athletes report that they fell better about themselves and are able to perform their daily activities with more energy and enthusiasm after engaging in athletic participation. Careful attention should be made to increase muscular strength around the elderly athlete’s joints so to prevent further osteoarthritic changes and to maintain all-important bodily mobility.
STRENGTH TRAINING GUIDELINES FOR THE ELDERLY*
Train selective muscle groups. The most important groups are hip and knee muscles.
Establish goals. The elderly are generally more interested in improving their functional capacity than in having strong muscles.
Train three to four days a week with one-day rest in between training sessions.
Train at a moderate intensity.
Use lightweights to begin with; work up to heavier weights.
Learn proper techniques to include proper breathing techniques and exercising through a full rang-of-motion.
Lift weights in a setting that includes professional supervision initially.
Warm-up before and cool down after each training session.
Train at least twice a week to maintain strength gains.
Ideally, have a medical fitness assessment that identifies musculoskeletal and biomechanical risk factors.
Obtain cardiovascular exercise parameters from a cardiologist before starting.
*Reproduced from The Physician and Sports Medicine