Can elderly increase muscular strength with training?

Introduction Individuals 65 years of age and older make up the elderly population. Aging is a dynamic process accompanied by a decline in skeletal muscle strength, mass, and power. Functional capacity decreases and an activity such as rising from a chair that represents submaximal effort in young people becomes a maximal effort activity in the elderly [3]. There are multiple factors contributing to the age-related atrophy and loss of strength. These factors include alterations in muscle and muscle fiber quality and size, decreased muscle cross-sectional area, changes or declines in the neuromuscular system, alterations in muscle architecture, an increased amount of noncontractile material, decreased agonist activity and increased antagonist activity. Even with these changes, research demonstrates that the skeletal muscle of elderly men and women retains the capacity for traininginduced hypertrophy and explosive force production, improvement in function and static/dynamic muscle strength, provided the volume, intensity, and duration of training is sufficient [5]. Weaker members of the elderly population show greatest potential for improvement.