The loss of strength and power in old age has important implications f
or health. Even with healthy elderly people, cross-sectional compariso
ns imply a loss of strength at some 1.5 % per year and of power at som
e 3.5 % per year (averaged across the age range 65 to 84). On the othe
r hand, healthy, very elderly people are at least as responsive to str
ength-training as younger adults. It is important to establish whether
elderly people derive functional benefit from training-induced improv
ements in strength and whether laboratory measurements of strength and
power might be used to identify those elderly people most at risk of
losing important, everyday functional abilities.