Weaker older women gain more lower body strength than their stronger counterparts, but not muscle mass, following 12 weeks of resistance training

We compared the magnitude of strength and muscle mass changes in response to resistance training (RT) between stronger older women and their weaker counterparts. Older women (n = 207) were grouped into tertiles according to their baseline muscular strength index. The upper and lower tertiles participants were categorized as stronger (STR, n = 69) and weaker (WKR, n = 69), respectively. Both groups engaged in a 12-week whole-body RT program. Outcomes included one-repetition maximum (1RM) tests in the three lifts and assessment of segmental lean soft tissue (LST) and skeletal muscle mass (SMM). The 1RM increase was similar between groups for the chest press [between-groups effect size of the differences (ESdiff) and 95% confidence interval (95%CI) = 0.10 (95%CI: -0.52, 0.31), P = 0.617] and preacher curl [ESdiff = 0.08 (95%CI: -0.48, 0.32), P = 0.681]. Changes were greater in WKR than STR for 1RM leg extension [ESdiff = -0.45 (95%CI: -0.86, -0.04), P = 0.030]. The increases of segmental LST and SMM were similar between-groups (ESdiff contains zero, P ≥ 0.434). We conclude that stronger and weaker older women benefit similarly for muscle mass and upper-limb strength gains. Notably, weaker older women may experience greater lower-limbs strength gains.