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Performance: Workouts May Help Turn Back ClockBy John O'Neil Six months of moderate, steadily increasing exercise can undo the effects of 30 years of aging, at least when it comes to aerobic performance, according to a new study published last week in the journal Circulation. The study was a follow-up to one conducted in 1966 that became known as the Dallas Bed Rest and Training Study. Then, a group of 20-year-old men performed physical tests, spent three weeks in bed, and then were put through a six- month program of moderate endurance training. Researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas examined five of the men in 1996. Only two had continued to exercise regularly; all had gained weight and on average they had doubled their body fat. In many ways, the researchers found, the deterioration was comparable to the deconditioning that had occurred when the men had been confined to bed. The subjects were then enrolled in a fitness program, choosing to walk, jog or work out on a stationary bicycle. Starting slowly, they built up over six months to working out about five hours a week. That training "restored 100 percent of the age-associated decline in aerobic power," the article said, meaning that tests of their cardiovascular output at the end of the 1996 trial were comparable to those at the start of the 1966 trial. "Even an older person who has failed to maintain fitness over time can benefit from an exercise program," said Dr. Benjamin Levine, an author of the study. The 50-year-olds were not, however, able to match the performances that they produced after the earlier round of training. And, the exercise program did not help them lose significant amounts of either weight or body fat. |
