title: Effects of a short-term personalized Intermittent Work Exercise Program (IWEP) on maximal cardio-respiratory function and endurance parameters among healthy young and older seniors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of a short-term Intermittent Work Exercise Program (IWEP) among healthy elderly subjects.
  
  
  METHODS
  This longitudinal prospective study took place at the Strasbourg University Hospital geriatric department.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and fifty older volunteers, previously determined as being free from cardiac and pulmonary disease, were separated into two age groups: the "young senior" (60.2 ± 3.1 yr) and the "older senior" groups (70.8 ± 5.2 yr). These groups were then subdivided by gender into the "young female senior", "young male senior" "older female senior" and "older male senior" groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  Before and after the IWEP, all subjects were asked to perform an incremental cycle exercise to obtain their first ventilatory threshold (VT1), maximal tolerated power (MTP), peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) and maximal minute ventilation (MMV). The IWEP consisted of a 30-min cycling exercise which took place twice a week, and was divided into six 5-min stages consisting of 4 min at VT1 intensity and 1 min at 90% MTP.
  
  
  METHODS
  An assessment was made of the effects of the IWEP on maximal cardio-respiratory function (MTP, VO2peak, MMV) and endurance parameters (VT1, heart rate [HR] measured at pretraining VT1 and lactate concentrations at pre-training MTP).
  
  
  RESULTS
  This short-term training program resulted in a significant increase of MTP (from 13.2% to 20.6%), VO2peak (from 8.9% to 16.6%) and MMV (from 11.1% to 21.8%) in all groups (p<0.05). VT1 improved from 21% at pretraining to 27%, while HR at pre-training VT1 as well as lactate concentrations at pre-training MTP decreased significantly in all groups (p<0.05). The post-training values for VO2peak and MMV of the "older seniors" were not significantly different (p>0.05) from the "young seniors" pre-training values for the same parameters.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The most striking finding in this study is that after only 9 weeks, our short-term "individually-tailored" IWEP significantly improved both maximal cardio-respiratory function and endurance parameters in healthy, previously untrained seniors.
authors.affiliation: University Hospital, Geriatric department, Hôpital de la Robertsau, Strasbourg, France. thomas.vogel@chru-strasbourg.fr
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vogel
authors.forename: P-M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Leprêtre
authors.forename: P-H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Brechat
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lonsdorfer
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Benetos
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kaltenbach
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lonsdorfer
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001642:Bicycling; D002319:Cardiovascular System; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000097:blood; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D010806:Physical Education and Training; D010807:Physical Endurance / Q000502:physiology*; D010809:Physical Fitness; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012143:Respiratory Physiological Phenomena; D012137:Respiratory System
chemical_list: D019344:Lactic Acid