RELIEF - Resistance Training for Life

Stian Ellefsen

Status: Completed

Conditions: Sarcopenia

Treatments: Other: Progressive resistance training

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05063279

TR030

Details and patient eligibility

About

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.

Enrollment: 76 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

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

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Crossover Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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76 participants in 2 patient groups

Resistance training group

Experimental group

Description:

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.

Treatment:

Other: Progressive resistance training

Negative control group

No Intervention group

Description:

A negative control group is included in the study which will not receive any resistance training.