Sixty-Plus: Still Breathing, Moving and Fit!

Fifty-Plus Fitness Library

Library : Year 2 | Session 7: Monitoring your fitness program

Sixty-Plus: Still Breathing, Moving and Fit!

Wayne C. McKinney, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor of Biomedical Sciences,
Southwest Missouri State University
Springfield, Missouri

The Ozark Mountain Ridge Runners Club in Springfield, Missouri, has had a research project ongoing to study the effects of exercise on health-related fitness and cardiac risk since April 1986. Detailed daily workout logs are kept by subjects in this project and these data are entered into the computer database on a monthly basis. The "fitness variables" (See Table) are tested annually in the laboratory. Subjects in this research range in age from 20-76 years. This article is delimited to a fitness and exercise summary of the 60-plus year old population in that research over the past fourteen years. These 60 and 70 year old people view exercise as a vital part of their way-of-life.

How many individuals reading this can remember via "first hand" experience the following events, people, and things: The Stock Market Crash, Vaudeville, Babe Ruth, The Great Depression, F.D.R., No Rural Electricity or Indoor Plumbing, Wood Stoves, Adolf Hitler, The Dust Bowl, The Berlin Olympiad, CCC Camps, Lum and Abner, Joe Louis, Mickey Owen and The Brooklyn Dodgers, Pearl Harbor, World War II, Gas Stamps, No TVs, etc? There are Ozark Mountain Ridge Runners who can recall most of the above! Some, e.g., could tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing on Sunday, December 7, 1941, when the news came that Pearl Harbor had been bombed and the U.S.A. was on its way into World War II. Young people may say, "Man! I read about that ancient history in school and thought all of those old dudes must be dead!" Not so! Many are breathing, fit, and can be found exercising on a regular basis! Are your workout efforts as good as these "old timers?" (See Table)

Workout History: The exercise frequency, intensity, and time differences between the workouts of men and women over 60 years of age are statistically comparable, but "the edge" goes to the smaller ladies! That is not the case prior to the age of 60! The energy expenditure drops off over 1000 kcals/week in their workout intensity after they reached the age of 60. That brings male and female workout numbers closer together at this stage in life. That is not a bad idea, e.g., when it allows retired couples to walk, cycle, run/jog, or swim and enjoy their workout time together.

Health-Related Fitness: The health-related fitness statistics shown (See Table), unfortunately, are not typical of those found in all 60-plus individuals in the United States. Most of the Ridge Runners have been lifelong exercisers and that is reflected in their good fitness numbers. The overall blood lipid profiles were good for this Ridge Runner age group. As examples, a mean of 111 mg/dl for LDL-C {"Bad Cholesterol") for men this age is very good as is a mean of 3.48 for the Total Cholesterol: HDL-C ratio for women. The metabolic effects of these subjects’ exercise over years contribute to the above phenomena. The same assumption can be made regarding their outstanding means for maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max), a key test for cardiorespiratory fitness. Their heart musculature has also adapted positively to their exercise intensity over time with a lower, more efficient, resting heart rate where the stroke volume is higher per beat. (This exercise-induced lower heart rate should not be confused with pathological bradycardia seen in some geriatric patients.) Many older people have inefficient resting heart rates at 75-80 beats per minute. Diabetes mellitus is also a prevalent disease in this age group nationwide and that increases cardiac risk. The blood sugar of these 60-plus exercisers, however, is where it should be, i.e., well below 100 mg/dl. (SEE TABLE FOR FITNESS & EXERCISE NUMBERS)

COMPOSITE HEALTH-RELATED FITNESS PROFILES OF 60+ YEAR OLD MALE AND FEMALE OZARK MOUNTAIN RIDGE RUNNERS: APRIL, 1986 THROUGH SEPTEMBER , 1999

	MALES	(M=65 YEARS)	FEMALES	(M=62 YEARS)
FITNESS VARIABLES	MEAN	FITNESS STATUS	MEAN	FITNESS STATUS
BODY COMPOSITION	169	Excellent	139	Good
Weight (Pounds)
Percent Body Fat	15.38	Excellent	26.66	Good
CARDIOVASCULAR
VO2MAX (ML/KG/MIN)	39.24	Excellent	33.25	Excellent
Systolic B/P (mmHg)	130	Average	117	Good
Diastolic B/P(mmHg)	79	Average	75	Good
Resting Heart Rate (bpm)	51	Excellent	56	Good
BLOOD LIPIDS
Total Cholesterol (mg/dl)	183	Good	194	Good
HDL-C (mg/dl)	41	Average	73	Excellent
Chol: HDL-C Ratio	4.78	Average	3.48	Excellent
LDL-C: HDL-C Ratio	2.83	Good	2.09	Good
LDL-C (mg/dl)	111	Good	141	Average
VLDL-C (mg/dl)	31	Normal	28	Normal
Triglycerides (mg/dl)	176	Normal	141	Normal
BLOOD SUGAR
Glucose (mg/dl)	95	Average	90	Good
CUMULATIVE WORKOUT HISTORY
Frequency
Workout Days/Week	4.89	Good	4.82	Good
Intensity
Kilocalories/Week	2322	Good	2246	Good
Kilocalories/Workout	478	Good	429	Good
Threshold Heart Rate %	68	Good	73	Good
Time
Minutes/Workout	51	Good	60	Excellent
Minutes/Week	251	Good	295	Excellent

Male Age Range = 60-76 Years

Female Age Range = 60-68 Years

Fitness Variable Status: Compares exerciser and sedentary means

Statistics From: McKinney, Wayne C. "Effect of varying energy expenditures during supplemental exercise on cardiovascular fitness and cardiac risk: A longitudinal study." This is also known as THE OZARK MOUNTAIN RIDGE TUNNER HEALTH-RELATED FITNESS PROFILE RESEARCH PROJECT. For a brief overview regarding this research, see the Ozark Mountain Ridge Runners web page at: http://www.omrr.org

IT PAYS TO EXERCISE AT ANY AGE!