Effects of Suspension Training Versus a Traditional One in the Elderly Population: a Randomized Clinical Trial

This research originates from the curiosity of wanting to prove that exercise in the elderly is more than recommended, specifically suspension training.

Traditionally, tools that use unstable surfaces have been used to increase the difficulty of exercises by stimulating the recruitment of a greater number of motor units. A new method is suspension training. It uses the weight of the body and the principles of moments of forces to improve the recruitment of motor units. The difficulty that stimulates this recruitment depends on the amount of instability caused by the suspension apparatus and the position of the body.

So this type of training in the elderly can be very interesting due to the ease of adaptation, since it can be used as a facilitating method or to increase the difficulty.

Additionally, an unstable resistance training situation stresses/taxes the neuromuscular system and can promote a greater gain in strength and increase the cross-sectional area. It can also increase motor unit recruitment and improve neuromuscular coordination without an increase in mechanical load when performing push-ups under unstable conditions. Because TRX exercises involve normal resistance, they can potentially improve strength by facilitating the use of large and fast-twitch muscle units, increasing muscle coordination and stimulating the musculoskeletal system, and increasing the number of muscle fibers. Suspension work increases the activation of most muscle groups involved in suspension training (push-ups, inverted row, prone bridge and hamstring curl) compared to traditional training.

Likewise, for the upper extremity it improves significantly as well as training with elastic bands. Improves the handgrip. Due to the constant use of suspension elements. For the lower extremity, a very high activation of the biecps femoris and semitendinosus (<90% MVIC), hamstrings, gluteus maximus, gluteus medius and adductor lagus have been observed. In relation to balance, it has been observed that suspension training has more notable positive effects on it than in traditional training due to the constant adaptation and participation of the CORE in the different exercises. On the other hand, regarding the fear of falls, it has been observed that, in medium and high intensity programs, this fear decreases as the participants feel more confident. In this type of study, positive effects have also been shown on sleep quality through the PSQI, positive effects on stride after high intensity and positive changes in body composition: higher percentage of water at the cellular level, with which better value of PhA and better cellular health. Finally, another possible advantage is the ease of installation of the material and its affordable price, since traditional training often requires more expensive machines and tools.