Exercise can help even in your 90s

If you claim that creaking bones and stiff joints stop you from exercising, you may have just run out of excuses.

For a new study has found that even people well into their 90s can benefit from regular strength and endurance training.

Just three months of working out twice a week is enough to give significant improvements in flexibility, strength and stamina - even at the age of 96.

Veteran endurance sports are becoming more and more popular, as life expectancy grows and people look for new activities in their retirement.

Last year, the London marathon had 237 runners aged over 70, and 12 in their eighties.

But experts say that most retired people in Britain do not recognise the benefits of regular exercise.

For the new study, published in the journal Age, researchers at the University of Navarra in Spain trained and tested a group of 24 people aged between 91 and 96 for 12 weeks.
One group of 11 trained twice a week, carrying out vigorous exercises for strength and to improve balance.

The 13 others did 30 minutes of far less strenuous mobility training, including gentle stretching and flexibility exercises.

At the end of the experiment, the first group showed a significant improvement in walking speed, hip and knee flexibility.

Their muscle mass had increased, they found it easier to get out of their chairs and they were less likely to fall over.

The group that did less strenuous exercise showed far less progress.

Professor Mikel Izquierdo, who led the research, said physical inactivity causes muscle loss and frailty.

He said: 'The training raised their functional capacity, lowered the risk of falls, and improved muscle power.

In addition to the significant increases in the physical capacity of frail elderly people, the study has shown that power training can be perfectly applied to the elderly with frailty.

'From a practical point of view the results of the study point to the importance of implementing exercise programmes in patients of this type, exercises to develop muscle power, balance and walking.

'It would be beneficial to apply exercises of this type among vulnerable elderly people to prevent the impact of ageing, improve their wellbeing and help them to adapt to the society in which they live.'

Bodybuilding champion Charles Eugster, 94, a retired dentist from Kensington in west London, only took up serious exercise in his 80s.

He has now cut his training to three sessions a week, but says he is still fitter than he used to be.
'I started to get better at it when I was 89,' he told the Sunday Times.

'It is as though something in my body has changed in a positive way. I don't get colds any more either.' Indian-born farmer Fauja Singh, 102, gave up running marathons last year, but still runs and walks ten miles a day.

A separate study, published last year, found that people only take up physical activity in their 60s can still see significant benefits, including reduced signs of ageing.

The University College London study found that four years of frequent exercise raises the likelihood of people ageing healthily sevenfold compared with those who were consistently inactive.

Staying fit not only lowers the risk of developing major diseases or disabilities, but also promotes good mental health, keeps the mind sharp and helps us maintain an active social life, the researchers found.