Older people can maximize their quality of life by keeping fit and mobile through physical activity. Although individuals tend to lose muscle mass and strength with age, research suggests that even very old individuals can increase their strength. Strength improves mobility, lowers the risk of falls and hip fractures, and expands a person's capacity for accomplishing everyday tasks independently.

In a review of the research on the subject, Dr. Anthony Vandervoort of the University of Western Ontario found that most investigators report increases in strength after resistance training in older subjects. Studies involving low-intensity training in older adults report strength increases under 20%. In comparison, high-intensity training (with higher weights) results in increases of up to 2.25 times the ability to lift a maximal weight.

In general, 12 weeks of high-intensity resistance training are sufficient to produce a large increase in strength. A return to a sedentary lifestyle leads to rapid and significant declines in strength, however.

In addition to increasing strength, high-intensity resistance training in older adults improves endurance — the ability to perform a number of contractions or to hold a single contraction. In one study, subjects increased their ability to lift their initial maximal weight from one repetition to 7 to 19 repetitions. This could mean improved ability in activities that require muscular endurance, such as carrying a heavy object, rather than muscular strength, such as lifting objects whose weight is at the limit of one's ability.

Older adults can participate in a strength training program if they don't have unstable cardiovascular disease, other unstable chronic conditions such as uncontrolled diabetes, a recent bone or joint injury, cognitive impairment and any condition that prevents strong muscular contractions. To be safe, have your physician give you a check-up.

Here are some tips for starting a program:

• For each muscle group you choose to strengthen, do more than one set of eight repetitions at 70% to 80% of the maximum weight you can lift one time and not more than once per training session. Don't worry if you take several weeks to reach this target.
• Allow at least 48 hours between sessions for a particular muscle group to adapt and recover.
  
  Strength training makes it easier for most older adults to perform daily physical activities and stay healthy. The results of high-intensity resistance training clearly indicate that we should never accept aging as an unalterable process of decline and loss.