Can 2 Weeks of High Intensity Interval Training in Healthy 65-85 Year-olds Improve Cardiorespiratory Fitness?

The percentage of people aged >65 y in the United Kingdom increased from 15% in 1985 to 17% in 2010, an increase of 1.7 million people. One age-associated physiological change is the reduction in vascular function that is observed, both at the levels of the large arteries and the muscle microvasculature. In itself this vascular dysfunction is associated with reduced aerobic performance. Cardiorespiratory fitness (marked by aerobic performance) has been shown to be an independent predictor of postoperative mortality, which provides more accurate prognostic information than age alone. In contrast, physical activity can reverse elements of pathophysiology associated with these conditions, including vascular dysfunction. Nonetheless, major roadblocks to exercise as a strategy to combat age-associated vascular dysfunction and associated conditions exist, such as poor exercise tolerance and "lack of time".

The aim of this study is to investigate whether if novel low-volume, time-efficient training strategies can improve indices of vascular health and cardiorespiratory performance in older individuals with a view towards improving their fitness for surgery. Numerous studies have demonstrated that periods of supervised exercise training effectively improve indices of cardiorespiratory (blood pressure, aerobic capacity and blood lipids and vascular function. However, the majority of these studies were conducted using high-volume continuous submaximal aerobic training (e.g. 50-65% VO2max for 30-60 min) or moderate to high volume progressive weight training. This research group have recently shown the efficacy of a time-efficient exercise strategy known as HIIT - High Intensity Interval Training, for improving VO2 max and muscle mass in young individuals with heightened metabolic disease risk and also demonstrated significant improvements in VO2 max comparable to classic aerobic exercise training using several different time-efficient HIIT protocols in as little as 4 weeks. This study aims to quantify the benefits of 2 weeks of HIIT.

Inclusion criteria

• Healthy Volunteer aged 65-85

Exclusion criteria

• Current participation in a formal exercise regime
• BMI < 18 or > 32 kg·m2
• Active cardiovascular disease:
• uncontrolled hypertension (BP > 160/100),
• angina,
• heart failure (class III/IV),
• Significant arrhythmia,
• right to left cardiac shunt,
• recent cardiac event
• Taking beta-adrenergic blocking agents,
• Cerebrovascular disease: previous stroke, aneurysm (large vessel or intracranial)
• epilepsy
• Respiratory disease including: pulmonary hypertension, Significant COPD, Uncontrolled asthma, Metabolic disease: -hyper and hypo parathyroidism, -untreated hyper and hypothyroidism, Cushing's disease, type 1 or 2 diabetes
• Active inflammatory bowel or renal disease
• Malignancy
• Clotting dysfunction
• Significant Musculoskeletal or neurological disorders
• Family history of early (<55y) death from cardiovascular disease