RELIEF - Resistance Training for Life

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Sarcopenia is an age-related gradual loss of muscle mass and strength and is associated with physical disability and mortality risk. Currently, the most promising remedy for preventing and treating sarcopenia is physical activity, particularly progressive resistance training. Yet, the amount of resistance exercise needed to achieve optimal benefits remains largely unknown. This lack of knowledge is underpinned by the notion that aging reduces the ability to adapt to (and benefit from) resistance training, and is further complicated by a relative large degrees of between-subject heterogeneity. The primary aim of the study is to compare the effects of 10 weeks of resistance training with low- and moderate volume (one vs. three sets per exercise) on muscle mass accretion in lower and upper body extremities in young (<30 years of age) and elderly individuals (>70 years of age). Specifically, the study addresses the hypothesis that elderly individuals will benefit more from higher exercise volume (moderate vs. low) compared to their young counterparts. In addition, the study aims to compare the efficacy of the two volume conditions for altering other characteristics such as muscle strength and biology, including assessment of associations between individual changes in muscle mass, strength and biology (e.g. the relationship between muscle mass accretion and muscle content of rRNA/rDNA), and also to investigate the general health effects of the intervention.

Official Title
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Resistance Training for Life - the Efficacy of Increasing Resistance Training Volume for Improving Muscle Mass, Function, Biology and Health in Young and Elderly

Conditions
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Sarcopenia

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: Progressive resistance training


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Ages between 18 and 30 or > 70 Exclusion Criteria: Resistance training, > 1 session per week Endurance training, > 3 sessions per week Unstable cardiovascular disease Illness or serious injury contradicting resistance training Serious mental illness Allergy to local anaesthesia

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Prevention
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Crossover Assignment
Interventional Model Description: Study conditions (exercise volume) are randomized to either leg/arm for within-participant comparisons. The effect of age is assessed from two parallel age groups.
Masking: Double


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Resistance training group<br>Participants in two age groups will receive moderate (three sets of per exercise per session) and low-volume (one set of resistance per session) training allocated to either right or left upper- and lower extremities. A total of 24 sessions will be performed over 10-12 weeks. | Other: Progressive resistance training<br>* Progressive resistance training, performed with a target number of repetitions of 10 per set. Sets are performed to exhaustion, and external load will be adjusted to meet the target number of repetitions.<br>|
| No Intervention: Negative control group<br>A negative control group is included in the study which will not receive any resistance training. | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Muscle size, lower extremities | Muscle size of lower extremity knee extensors measured with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). | Change from baseline to after the training period (10-12 weeks) | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Muscle size, upper-body extremities | Muscle size of upper extremity elbow flexors measured with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). | Change from baseline to after the training period (10-12 weeks) | 
| Appendicular lean mass, lower-body extremities | Appendicular lean mass of the legs measured using Dual X-Ray Absorptiometry | Change from baseline to after the training period (10-12 weeks) | 
| Appendicular lean mass, upper-body extremities | Appendicular lean mass of the arms measured using Dual X-Ray Absorptiometry | Change from baseline to after the training period (10-12 weeks) | 
| Muscle thickness, m. vastus lateralis | Musle thickness of m. vastus lateralis measured using ultrasound | Change from baseline to after the training period (10-12 weeks) | 
| Muscle strength, lower-body extremities | Muscle strength of the legs measured as a weighted average of lower body isokinetic and isometric knee extensor maximal force | Change from baseline to after the training period (10-12 weeks) | 
| Muscle strength, upper-body extremities | Muscle strength of the arms measured as isometric force (elbow flexors; fixed angle) | Change from baseline to after the training period (10-12 weeks) | 
| Muscular peak power/force, lower-body extremities | Muscular peak power/force measured using dynamic leg press | MeasurChange from baseline to after the training period (10-12 weeks) |