Serious adverse events were rare , and no serious events were reported to be directly related to the exercise programme .
This review provides evidence that PRT is an effective intervention for improving physical functioning in  older people , including improving strength and the performance of some simple and complex activities .
BACKGROUND Muscle weakness in old age is associated with physical function decline .
Progressive resistance strength training ( PRT ) exercises are design ed to increase strength .
OBJECTIVES To assess the effects of PRT on older people and identify adverse events .
Resistance training effects on muscular strength of elderly are related to intensity and gender.
The purpose of this study was to determine whether a high intensity ( HI ) versus a moderate ( MI ) or low-intensity ( LI ) training program would be more effective in improving the isokinetic knee extension muscular performance in healthy inactive men and women . Sixty-four participants , men and women , were r and omly assigned to one of four groups : control group ( C ) , LI ( 50 % of 1RM ) , the MI group ( 70 % of 1RM ) and the HI ( 90 % of 1RM ) . Participants exercised on three resistance exercise machines : leg extension , leg curls and leg press . The isokinetic testing method ( concentric mode ) applied prior to and at the end of the training period ( 16 weeks , three 3 times per week ) to assess the knee muscular performance . MANOVA repeated measures revealed that the HI group demonstrated the most strength gains following a speed specificity pattern ( most considerable improvement occurred at or near slow speeds from 7.3 % to 11.2 % for male and from 2.3 % to 15.2 % for female ) . In addition , males demonstrated a greater improvement of knee extension power output than females . In conclusion , HI strength training is proposed for elderly men and women as the most effective protocol . Furthermore only at low-velocity testing , women of the HI showed a greater change than men ( p < 0.05 ) . Regarding strength increase in relation to various testing velocities , a greater increase was found in HI at low velocities , with the other training groups exhibiting almost similar strength increase at all tested speeds
Serious adverse events were rare , and no serious events were reported to be directly related to the exercise programme .
This review provides evidence that PRT is an effective intervention for improving physical functioning in  older people , including improving strength and the performance of some simple and complex activities .
BACKGROUND Muscle weakness in old age is associated with physical function decline .
Progressive resistance strength training ( PRT ) exercises are design ed to increase strength .
OBJECTIVES To assess the effects of PRT on older people and identify adverse events .