Research

Mixed

Endurance exercise training improves cardiovascular function (maximal oxygen intake, stroke volume, and cardiac index) in healthy older men to a degree that is not significantly different from young men, despite age-related declines in resting and peak exercise hemodynamics.

If you are a healthy older man, starting a supervised endurance training program (walking, jogging, cycling) 4-5 times a week for 45 minutes can significantly improve your heart's ability to pump blood and your overall endurance. You can expect improvements in your maximum oxygen uptake and stroke volume that are comparable to those seen in young men, proving that age does not preclude cardiovascular adaptation.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Despite the significant cardiovascular changes that occur in the response to a single bout of exercise with aging, adaptations to chronic exercise training were not different with aging and included improvements in maximal workload and increases in ejection fraction, stroke volume index, and cardiac index at peak exercise.
Jon Stratton et al. · Circulation · 1994

Why this rating

Randomized controlled trial with rigorous screening, but small sample size (n=24) and short duration (6 months).

Source

Cardiovascular responses to exercise. Effects of aging and exercise training in healthy men.

Jon Stratton et al. · Circulation · 1994

DOI 10.1161/01.cir.89.4.1648

rct · n=24Cited 448×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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