*Moving beyond Cardio: The Value of Resistance Exercise Training for Cardiovascular Disease DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.104909*

intervention, sarcopenia may eventually lead to physical disability and loss of independence [54]. Thankfully, older adults can gain the health benefits of physical activity, regardless of age, provided that the threshold for irreversible frailty has not been reached [54, 55]. While the optimal health benefits of exercise are best realised from a combination of aerobic and resistance exercise training, most older adults do not meet minimum guidelines for exercise or when they do, they do not engage in RT [56]. This is problematic in that RT remains the most consistent and effective method of promoting global muscular adaptations [56] and for promoting increases in muscle mass [46]. It is for this reason that RT, especially in the form of strengthening- and hypertrophic-exercise is even more critical for older adults and should be emphasised in future guidelines, as it may be the most effective standalone exercise strategy for improving health of older adults [57, 58]. Failing this, RT should be highlighted as an essential component in multimodal exercise training programmes in older adults, and especially frail adults [59, 60]. Problematically, even when RT training is recommended as equally important to aerobic exercise as in the UK PA Guidelines, guidelines regarding RT appear to be interpreted as secondary to the primary message of achieving 150 minutes of aerobic training, and there is some evidence that the strength guideline is both less well known and less often achieved. Given the importance of maintaining or increasing muscle strength, particularly for adults at the upper end of the 19–64 age range, this guideline should be given equal emphasis.
