Dosing and Specificity of Training to Sustain Maximal Walking Speed in Highly Mobile Older Adults: A Scalable Treatment Approach for All.

Compared to their sedentary peers, older track athletes demonstrate a superior ability to negate the normal age-related changes in gait mechanics known to attenuate maximal walking speed performance with age. Sports-specific exercises commonly utilized to affect this end may be appropriately scaled to benefit a wider subset of older adults. Optimal dosing of resistance training to maximize gluteus maximus functional fitness, accompanied by gait reeducation to augment motor patterns facilitating optimal peak trailing leg extension and push-off intensity, create a redundancy in walking capacity likely to prolong functional independence for beneficiaries of this targeted intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]