Even if you're an elderly couch potato, it's not too late to get whipped into shape. It just takes the right kind of exercise.

So says D. Lynne Thompson-Cundiff, a fitness instructor at SIUC who has created a successful new fitness program for those over 50. 

"Your body is going to age no matter what. But you can slow that process down through exercise," says Thompson-Cundiff, whose recently completed master's thesis in physical education validates her program's effectiveness.

Thompson-Cundiff began asking herself what kind of exercise works best for the silver-haired set four years ago, when she inherited an older-adults exercise class at the SIUC Student Recreation Center.

"Those who'd taught the class before me said: 'Oh, you can't do this or they can't do that. And don't make them lift more than two or three pounds at the most.' When I started working toward my master's in exercise science, I began doing research, and I found older folks were much more capable, in my opinion, than the exercise class had allowed them to be," says Thompson-Cundiff. 

But nowhere did she find data on comprehensive workouts for older adults, she says, which gave rise to her master's research.

"Knowing the components of fitness, I put together an hour-long program that incorporated as many components as I could, including exercises for cardiovascular health, muscular strength, endurance, flexibility, and balance. I wanted to set up a class where [people] would thrive socially and emotionally as well," says Thompson-Cundiff, who also teaches physical education classes at SIUC.

She recruited 31 adults between the ages of 52 and 87 who were not enrolled in any formal exercise program. First, she tested their upper- and lower-body strength, cardiovascular endurance, upper- and lower-body flexibility, and agility or balance.

Then she split them into two groups. One group took her 60-minute-long exercise class, which met 22 times over eight weeks. The other group went about their normal daily activities but did not participate in the formal workouts.

After the eight-week period, Thompson-Cundiff re-tested everyone. Results show the exercisers experienced significant gains in lower-body strength, upper-body strength, balance and agility, and cardiovascular endurance. In addition, the people who took the fitness class maintained lower-body flexibility. The only area where they didn't fare so well was in upper-body flexibility. Thompson-Cundiff says that as they built bigger biceps, they experienced a decline in upper-arm flexibility, so she's added more exercises to help her future students stay limber.

Meanwhile, members of the control group—who did not engage in formal exercise, but were allowed to participate in such ordinary activities as yard work and household chores—lost upper- and lower-body flexibility and failed to see any significant gains in upper-body strength, cardiovascular endurance, balance, or agility. Only their lower-body strength improved, probably because they'd been engaged in summer activities.

"This research shows you don't have to spend a whole hour on cardiovascular health three days a week to get functional fitness improvements. You just need to take a holistic approach that incorporates 30 minutes of cardio work and use the other 30 minutes to get in muscular strength, flexibility, and range-of-motion exercises," says Thompson-Cundiff.

"It will help adults maintain their independence and should give them more energy and vigor."
 

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