Muscle endurance is greater for old men compared with strength-matched young men: A Paper Review
Background:
As many of us age we are labeled as fragile, weak and past our prime. In today’s society a strong young man is more appreciated than an old man and gives the impression that they are more energetic, active and physicality fit. Our understanding of aging is that our bodies have an expiry date and past a certain age it begins to wear down. The muscles grow weaker and the elderly seems to shrivel. Strength and endurance have been present in many studies to be intertwined with each other. It is believed that the older a person gets the less muscle tone which equals less strength and endurance. However, in this particular study Hunter, Critchlow and Enoka (2005) proved that old men of similar strength not weaker than the young men but they have surpassed the young men in a test of endurance.
Summary:
Hunter, Critchlow and Enoka (2005) set out in this study to test the endurance of young men versus old men in an effort to determine which one had better endurance. In this study, eight young men and eight old men volunteered to complete an endurance test consisting of an isometric contraction with the elbow flexor muscles until they could no long achieve the targeted torque for a period of 5 seconds (Hunter, Critchlow and Enoka 2005). During the test, there was also an increase in torque in intervals. All the subjects in this study was selected to be as similar as possible except for the age difference this way the researchers were able to eliminate as much bias as possible so that the only factor influencing the outcome would be their respective ages. They selected young men and old men of similar strength in order to gauge the time that it took each to tire out and the effect of the exercise on their bodies. The researchers used electromyography (EMG) bursting activity to monitor the electrical activities of their skeletal muscles during test. They also...