Effects of a short-term strength training programme on lymphocyte subsets at rest in elderly humans

The effects of a short-term strength training programme on resting lymphocy te subsets and stress hormone concentrations were analysed in 32 elderly se dentary subjects. Out of these 32 subjects, 8 women and 8 men [mean age 70. 1 (SEM 1.0) years] were randomly assigned to a 8-week strength training pro gramme which consisted of three sets of eight repetitions at 80% of one rep etition maximum, for leg press, bilateral leg extension and seated chest pr ess, 3 days a week. The remaining 8 women and 8 men [mean age 70.5 (SEM 0.9 ) years ] served as controls. Absolute counts of lymphocyte subsets (CD20+, CD3+, CD3+CD4+, CD3+CD8+. CD3-CD56+CD16+) were measured with a new techniq ue combining fluorescent microspheres and flow cytometry. In the trained su bjects, substantial increases in strength took place in one repetition maxi mum during the 8-week training period for leg press [from means of 20.7 (SE M 1.0) to 23.6 (SEM 1.0) N . kg(LBM)(-1) (lean body mass], chest press [fro m means of 5.4 (SEM 0.3) to 6.2 (SEM 0.3) N . kg(LBM)(-1)] and bilateral le g extension [from means of 6.3 (SEM 0.2) to 7.4 (SEM 0.3) N . kg(LBM)(-1)] movements. Baseline cortisol concentration (P < 0.01), CD20+ cell count (P < 0.05). CD3+ cell count (P < 0.05). and CD4+ cell count (P < 0.01) decreas ed in both groups secondary to circannual variations between winter and sum mer. No significant effect of strength training on resting adrenaline, nora drenaline and cortisol concentrations or distributions of lymphocyte subset s at rest was observed. The main finding of this study was to demonstrate t hat 8-week is too short a duration for a strength training programme to mod ify counts of lymphocyte subsets at rest in elderly sedentary adults.