In 1989 WQED/Pittsburgh produced a documentary called “The Champion Within” (Wells, 1989), it explored exercise physiology research on how we can improve the human body’s athletic capablities at all stages of life. There were several segments, some dealing with athletes. However, the most inspiring as far as exercise motivation involved older age groups trying to improve their quality of life.
Bill Evans of Tufts U. in Boston found that a group of elderly individuals were having difficulty performing everyday activities, such as walking up a flight of stairs, or carrying a bag of groceries. For some, these activities caused them to be at their maximal physiological capacity. Evans believed that since many of the elderly stop exercising as they get older, their fitness levels drop off precipitously. In his study Evans took a group of retirement age volunteers and put them on a 12 week exercise program. Evans said we know that 50% of women over 60 can’t lift 10 pounds, and that is probably not age related, but due more to lack of exercise.
After 12 weeks of high intensity strength training Evans found that one male volunteer had 16 percent larger thigh muscles than before his exercise program. Evans hypothesized that no matter how old you are, your muscles never lose their ability to respond to training.
Evans concluded ” What we have seen is that these very old people above the age of 90 can triple their muscle strength in 8 to 9 weeks of training. They can sgnificantly increase their muscle mass. And all of those things may make a major difference in the ability for them to ambulate, to get around, to be mobile — to reduce the risk of falling down when they walk, which may make a major difference in their survival.” (p. 11)
So if 90 year olds can improve their physical condition with training, that should inspire those in the younger age ranges to begin or maintain their fitness workouts.