Estimating physical working capacity and training changes in the elderly at the fatigue threshold (PWC_ft)

The test for estimating physical working capacity at the fatigue threshold (PWCft), previously validated for young men, was evaluated for use with elderly men and women. A sample of 27 volunteer subjects (67.6 +/- 5.6 years, 11 male, 16 female) was divided into three matched groups: (1) controls (n = 10), (2) low intensity (70% PWCft) training group (n = 10) and (3) high intensity (85% PWCft) training group (n = 7). The subjects were tested for PWCft before and after 10 weeks of exercise training on cycle ergometers (30 min/day, 3 days/week). Controls did not exercise but met once a week for a health lecture. No significant pre-test to post-test change was noted in the mean PWCft of the control group (78.8-78.5 W); low intensity training resulted in 29.8% improvement in PWCft (81.0 to 105.0 W); and the high intensity group realized an improvement of 38.4% (83.6-115.7 W). One-way ANOVA indicated that the gains made by each of the groups were significantly different (p less than 0.01). Post hoc analysis revealed that the gains made by each exercise training group were significantly greater than controls (p less than 0.05) with no significant difference between high and low intensity groups. Reproducibility of the PWCft was excellent (R = 0.976). Since RPE averaged 14.2 at PWCft and 64% of subjects provided useful data, this test appears to be useful for evaluating the fitness of the elderly.