For muscular strength, although measured by hand grip,
our results are in accordance with previous results that
show elderly individuals display decreased neuromuscular
performance after a period of detraining, but retain higher
values than pre-training levels. Correa et al37 performed
a similar longitudinal protocol using elderly women that
consisted of twelve weeks of an RT program twice a week
followed by twelve weeks of detraining. The results of this
study found that strength gains were partially maintained
following the detraining period. Lovell et al38 found similar
results in older men following four weeks of detraining.
Furthermore, previous studies have shown that the muscular
strength of elderly individuals, when subjected to
RT of moderate to high intensity, can be maintained above
baseline levels during 12 to 48 weeks of de training.16,17
Although, similar results were found for muscular strength,