Recovery from resistance exercise in later life : why does it matter, what do we know about it, and can we do anything about it?

Abstract

Resistance exercise is highly recommended for the maintenance of muscle mass and strength in older adults. Performing unaccustomed resistance exercise often leads to temporary reductions in physical functioning and sensations of muscle soreness in the days following the exercise bout. Optimising the recovery process after such exercise bouts is an important aim to maximise adaptation and limit side-effects, but the exercise recovery process in older adults is not well understood. Certain whole foods, such as cow’s milk, have previously been suggested as effective recovery aids in this population but evidence for this is limited. Therefore, this thesis aimed to systematically map the current literature surrounding exercise recovery in older adults and identify suitable whole food interventions to aid recovery, alongside investigating older adults’ knowledge and attitudes towards resistance exercise, exercise recovery, and exercise recovery strategies. Chapter 3 presents a summary of the current literature following a systematic literature search and determines that there is limited research assessing recovery from resistance exercise in older adults, particularly in older women, and that literature in this area is inconsistent in both study protocol and findings. Chapter 4 details the results of a large-scale online survey, that show that there is a need to educate older adults on the benefits of resistance exercise, and the process of exercise recovery, in order to improve uptake and adherence to resistance exercise programmes. It also discusses older adults’ lack of knowledge surrounding exercise recovery strategies, and their preference for whole food strategies over supplements. Lastly, Chapter 5 aimed to examine the effectiveness of a whole food product, cow’s milk, for aiding exercise recovery in older adults. Due to difficult recruitment, the study was not adequately powered to detect any effect of condition. Various methodological considerations are presented for future research surrounding exercise recovery in older adults, including the suitability (or lack thereof) of traditional indirect markers of exerciseinduced muscle damage. In conclusion, the findings of this thesis demonstrate that the literature describing exercise recovery in older adults is lacking in strength and coherence. This thesis provides novel insights in to the knowledge and views of older adults of the exercise recovery process, and provides initial evidence-based recommendations for the progression of methodological approaches within this area of research.