Muscular strength of active men, 25 to 64 years of age

Graduation date: 1988This study measured muscular strength and perceived\ud exertion of active men, 25 to 64 years old. The subjects\ud were 80 members of a large YMCA, with 20 active men chosen\ud from each of the following age groups: 25-34, 35-44, 45-54,\ud and 55-64. Measurement of strength consisted of assessing\ud the maximum weight that could be lifted, through a complete\ud range of motion, 10 times (10-RM) for each of six strength\ud exercises; leg press, leg extension, leg curl, decline\ud press, seated rowing, and behind neck pulldown. Upon\ud completion of the last strength test, each subject indicated\ud a rating of perceived exertion (RPE) from the Borg scale.\ud Total Body Strength (TS) represented the sum of the\ud weight lifted in each of the six strength tests. To adjust\ud for body size, TS was divided by the subject's Body Mass\ud Index (BMI) and this ratio was termed Relative Strength\ud (RS). The RS of the 55-64 age group was approximately 72\ud per cent of the value recorded by the 25-34 age group. This\ud difference was significant (p = .0000) and linear (p =\ud .0000). The means of the two older age groups were\ud significantly different from the two younger groups, but not\ud from each other. RPE for both the 25-34 and 35-44 age\ud groups was significantly greater (p = .0072) than the RPE\ud for either of the two older age groups; however, the\ud difference between the means of any two age groups was less\ud than 1.6, and the correlation between age and RPE was low\ud (-.3139).\ud It was concluded that (1) RS was less for successively\ud older age groups of active men. The difference between age\ud groups followed a linear trend and by age 60, RS was 72 per\ud cent of the value at age 30. (2) The RPE for the 10-RM\ud strength tests was similar for all age groups