Overall , home-based resistance exercise  can improve both strength and functional ability , but the improvements are generally small .
The intensity of the exercises might not progress sufficiently enough to produce large improvements in strength as a result of less supervision or a lack of motivation to increase the intensity further
Home-based resistance exercise is commonly used for individuals who might not have access or the ability to use traditional resistance exercise .
However , the extent to which home-based resistance exercise can improve both strength and functional ability has not been investigated in healthy older individuals using a systematic analysis .
Resistance exercise load does not determine training-mediated hypertrophic gains in young men.
We have reported that the acute postexercise increases in muscle protein synthesis rates , with differing nutritional support , are predictive of longer-term training-induced muscle hypertrophy . Here , we aim ed to test whether the same was true with acute exercise-mediated changes in muscle protein synthesis . Eighteen men ( 21 ± 1 yr , 22.6 ± 2.1 kg/m(2 ) ; means ± SE ) had their legs r and omly assigned to two of three training conditions that differed in contraction intensity [ % of maximal strength ( 1 repetition maximum ) ] or contraction volume ( 1 or 3 sets of repetitions ) : 30%-3 , 80%-1 , and 80%-3 . Subjects trained each leg with their assigned regime for a period of 10 wk , 3 times/wk . We made pre- and posttraining measures of strength , muscle volume by magnetic resonance ( MR ) scans , as well as pre- and posttraining biopsies of the vastus lateralis , and a single postexercise ( 1 h ) biopsy following the first bout of exercise , to measure signaling proteins . Training-induced increases in MR-measured muscle volume were significant ( P < 0.01 ) , with no difference between groups : 30%-3 = 6.8 ± 1.8 % , 80%-1 = 3.2 ± 0.8 % , and 80%-3= 7.2 ± 1.9 % , P = 0.18 . Isotonic maximal strength gains were not different between 80%-1 and 80%-3 , but were greater than 30%-3 ( P = 0.04 ) , whereas training-induced isometric strength gains were significant but not different between conditions ( P = 0.92 ) . Biopsies taken 1 h following the initial resistance exercise bout showed increased phosphorylation ( P < 0.05 ) of p70S6 K only in the 80%-1 and 80%-3 conditions . There was no correlation between phosphorylation of any signaling protein and hypertrophy . In accordance with our previous acute measurements of muscle protein synthetic rates a lower load lifted to failure result ed in similar hypertrophy as a heavy load lifted to failure
Overall , home-based resistance exercise  can improve both strength and functional ability , but the improvements are generally small .
The intensity of the exercises might not progress sufficiently enough to produce large improvements in strength as a result of less supervision or a lack of motivation to increase the intensity further
Home-based resistance exercise is commonly used for individuals who might not have access or the ability to use traditional resistance exercise .
However , the extent to which home-based resistance exercise can improve both strength and functional ability has not been investigated in healthy older individuals using a systematic analysis .