Impact of nutritional status on body composition and muscle strength of older women enrolled in a resistance training program

Abstract

Overweight among older adults has increased considerably, and resistance training (RT) is a very attractive intervention strategy for positive changes associated with its practice. The aim was to evaluate the impact of nutritional status on body composition and muscle strength of older women in a RT program. Forty-eight older women were divided into three groups: eutrophic (EUT, BMI ? 24.9 kg/m²), overweight (OVE, BMI between 25.0 and 29.9 kg/m²) and obese (OBE, BMI ? 30.0 kg/m2). RT was performed for 12 weeks, one set of 10 to 15 repetitions, eight exercises, three weekly sessions. Body composition assessments (muscle mass, fat mass and trunk fat), strength and muscle quality were performed. Interaction for muscle mass in EUT had significant effect (+ 4.0%) when compared to OVE (+ 1.4%) and OBE (+ 1.4%). Time effect was observed for muscle strength (EUT = + 10.6%, OVE = + 7.5% and OBE = + 11.0%), muscle quality (EUT = + 6.1%, OVE = + 6.3% and OBE = + 9.8%), trunk fat (EUT = - 3.3%, OVE = - 0.7% and OBE = - 0.7%) and fat mass (EUT = - 3.0%, OVE = - 1.5% and OBE = - 0.5%). The results suggest that RT is effective for improving strength, muscle quality, muscle mass, trunk fat and fat mass of older women, but nutritional status may be determinant in muscle mass changes.