Project 467123

As the worldwide population is aging, Canada, particularly New Brunswick, is no exception, with about 1 in 4 individuals above 65 years old. As the population ages, a simultaneous increase in the prevalence of chronic conditions, such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, arthritis, back pain, obesity, and diabetes, have been observed. This situation is a significant concern since people live longer but do not spend more time healthy. Therefore, increases in healthcare system-related expenses will increase even though our system is already fragile. Resistance training has been shown to enhance most of these chronic conditions in older adults. An innovative solution has been suggested and tested in the literature. Briefly, by restricting blood flow and reducing the load during resistance training, young and older adults may be provided similar benefits to heavy load resistance training, such as increased muscle strength, size, and function. Nevertheless, women were underrepresented in these studies performed in young and older adults. Likewise, there is a knowledge gap surrounding the sex differences in response to blood flow restriction (BFR) training as fewer than 30% of all research participants in all BFR research are women. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of six-week BFR with low-load resistance training on sex and age differences on physical function, muscle hypertrophy, and biomarkers of health. No study thus far has investigated the age and sex differences of resistance training combined with BFR. These results may offer a better alternative for people struggling with exercise and offer a more precise exercise prescription based on sex differences. This is a first step toward enhanced exercise efficacy.