Comparison of 2 Weekly Frequencies of Resistance Training on Muscular Strength, Body Composition, and Metabolic Biomarkers in Resistance-Trained Older Women: Effects of Detraining and Retraining

Amarante do Nascimento, M, Nunes, JPA, Pina, FLC, Ribeiro, AS, Carneiro, NH, Venturini, D, Barbosa, DS, Mayhew, JL, and Cyrino, ES. Comparison of 2 weekly frequencies of resistance training on muscular strength, body composition, and metabolic biomarkers in resistance-trained older women: Effects of detraining and retraining. J Strength Cond Res 36(5): 1437-1444, 2022-This study aimed to compare the effects of 2 weekly frequencies of resistance training (RT) on muscular strength, body composition, and metabolic biomarkers in previously resistance-trained older women after detraining and retraining. Forty subjects (>60 years) performed RT (8 exercises, 1 set of 10-15 repetitions maximum) 2 (G2x) or 3 (G3x) times per week over 12 weeks of training and retraining. After training, subjects were detrained for 12 weeks. After detraining, there were significant decreases (p < 0.05) in upper-body (similar to 12%) and lower-body (similar to 14%) muscular strength, fat-free mass (FFM) (similar to 2%), and testosterone (similar to 26%), whereas increases were revealed for fat mass (FM) (similar to 4%), relative body fat (similar to 3%), fasting glucose (similar to 8%), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (similar to 21%), and triglycerides (similar to 24%), with no differences between groups (p > 0.05). Following retraining, there were significant increases (p < 0.05) for upper (similar to 7%) and lower (similar to 10%) muscular strength, FFM (similar to 2%), and testosterone (similar to 20%). In contrast, decreases were found for FM (similar to 7%), relative body fat (similar to 3%), fasting glucose (similar to 6%), LDL-C (similar to 14%), and triglycerides (similar to 21%), also with no differences between groups (p > 0.05). Gains after retraining were lower than after training (p < 0.05) only for upper- and lower-body muscular strength (similar to 6%) and testosterone (similar to 11%). Total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, IGF-1, and C-reactive protein did not change at any point in the study for either group (p > 0.05). Our results suggest that older women can regain previous RT program benefits following detraining, regardless of the weekly training frequency. However, some fitness components may take longer to reestablish than the initial training level.