Tailored Versus Traditional Resistance Exercise

Preserving functional ability is crucial for healthy aging. Unfortunately, age-related decreases in muscle power often lead to declines in functional ability. As power is the product of force and velocity, decreases in power can originate from changes in muscle force, contraction velocity, or both, varying between individuals. The primary method to prevent functional disability is power-based resistance training. Although training interventions are effective for most older adults, they do not induce substantial improvements in a subset of the population. These inconsistent outcomes may arise from neglecting the observed differences in the force-velocity (F-v) profiles between individuals. Therefore, this study provides a novel approach to resistance exercise, in which exercise dose is tailored according to the individual's F-v profile. The effectiveness of the tailored method will be assessed in a randomized control trial, comparing the effects of an individualized and a non-individualized 12-week training intervention on muscle power parameters and functional ability.