The Effect of Six Weeks of Selected Aerobic Training on Some Physiological Factors in Elderly Men

Aging is a stage of life that is associated with physiological changes. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of six weeks of selected aerobic training on some physiological factors in elderly men.

In this quasi-experimental and applied study, 48 sedentary male elderly volunteers with the age range of 60 - 70 years were selected as the statistical sample in Gilan-e-Gharb and divided into two groups of aerobic training and control (n= 24, in each group). The training protocol was performed for six weeks, three sessions per week and each session lasted one hour with an intensity of 55% of the maximum heart rate. Aerobic capacity, heart rate, systolic blood pressure, red blood cells and hemoglobin were measured before the study and also 48 hours after the last training session. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov, independent samples t-test and dependent samples t-test were used to analyze the research findings (P≤0.05).

Six weeks of aerobic training had a significant effect on improving aerobic power, heart rate, systolic blood pressure, red blood cells, and hemoglobin in elderly men (P = 0.001).

It seems that six weeks of aerobic training can be used to improve cardiovascular risk factors as well as hematological factors in elderly men.