) men and women (n ϭ 74) 38 Ϯ 5 years of age were randomly assigned into either PWMP (men ϭ 20, women ϭ 21) or SC (men ϭ 15, women ϭ 18). Both groups managed their own diet and exercise program after receiving the same standardized nutrition and physical activity advice. PWMP also received a weight management system with literature to enable the design of a personalized diet and exercise weight loss program. Body weight and body composition, waist circumference, and cardiorespiratory fitness were measured at weeks 0, 16, and 32. Results: Eighty percent of participants completed the 32-week intervention, with a greater proportion of the dropouts being women (PWMP: 2 men vs. 7 women; SC: 2 men vs. 4 women). At 32 weeks, PWMP completers had significantly (p Ͻ 0.001) greater losses in body weight [6.2 Ϯ 3.4 vs. 2.6 Ϯ 3.6 (standard deviation) kg], fat mass (5.9 Ϯ 3.4 vs. 2.2 Ϯ 3.6 kg), and waist circumference (4.4 Ϯ 4.5 vs. 1.0 Ϯ 3.6 cm). Weight loss and fat loss were explained by the exercise energy expenditure completed and not by weekly exercise duration. Discussion: More effective weight loss was achieved after treatment with the PWMP compared with SC. The results suggest that the PWMP enables effective weight loss through tools that support self-monitoring without the requirement of more costly approaches to program supervision.

The direction and magnitude of limb composition changes in those with lymphedema are impacted by whether the affected side is the dominant or nondominant limb, as well as the severity of the condition. The stage of tissue composition change may impact on the diagnosis and monitoring as well as treatment of secondary lymphedema.

Background Reference ranges for lean mass (LM) and fat mass (FM) are essential in identifying soft tissue disorders; however, no such reference ranges exist for the most commonly used Hologic dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry (DXA) machine in Australia. Methods Cross‐sectional study of community‐dwelling adults (aged 18–88 years) who underwent a Hologic DXA scan at one of three commercialized densitometry centres in Australia. Age‐specific and sex‐specific percentile curves were generated for LM [LM, appendicular lean mass (ALM), ALM adjusted for height squared (ALM/h2), and ALM adjusted for body mass index (ALM/BMI)] and FM [FM, FM adjusted for height squared (FM/h2), appendicular fat mass, and android and gynoid fat] parameters using the LMS statistical method. Cutpoints equivalent to T‐scores of −1, −2, and −2.5 standard deviations below the young mean reference group (20–29 years) were also generated for LM parameters. Results A total of 15 479 community‐dwelling adults (54% men) with a median age of 33 years (interquartile range: 28, 42) were included. LM, ALM, and ALM/h2 remained stable until age 50, after which these parameters started to decline in both sexes. Compared with age 50, median percentiles of LM, ALM, and ALM/h2 declined by −5.9 kg, −3.7 kg, and −0.86 kg/m2 in men and by −2.5 kg, −1.8 kg, and −0.10 kg/m2 in women at age 70, respectively. Adjusting ALM for BMI (rather than height squared) resulted in different trends, with ALM/BMI decreasing from as early as age 20. Compared with age 20, median percentiles of ALM/BMI at age 40 declined by −0.10 kg/kg/m2 in men and by −0.06 kg/kg/m2 in women; and at age 70, ALM/BMI declined by −0.25 kg/kg/m2 in men and by −0.20 kg/kg/m2 in women. Cutpoints equivalent to T‐scores of −1, −2, and −2.5 standard deviations for ALM/BMI were 1.01, 0.86, and 0.77 kg/kg/m2 in men and 0.70, 0.59, and 0.53 kg/kg/m2 in women, respectively. All FM parameters progressively increased from age 20 and continued up until age 70. Conclusions We developed reference ranges for LM and FM parameters from Hologic DXA machines in a large cohort of Australian adults, which will assist researchers and clinicians in identifying soft tissue disorders such as obesity, sarcopenia, and cachexia.

Strength and sprint training exercises are integral part of training in many younger endurance cyclists to improve cycling efficiency and sprinting ability. This study was undertaken to examine whether muscle and performance characteristics could be improved in endurance-trained masters cyclist by adding strength and sprint training stimuli into their training regimen. Twenty five masters road cyclists were assigned to a combined strength and sprint training group (CT; n=9, 53.5 ± 9.3 years), a sprint training group (ST, n=7, 49.4 ± 4.8 years) or a control group (CG, n=9, 56.9 ± 8.6 years). Before and after the 12 week intervention, whole body lean mass (WBLM), total lower limb lean mass (LLLM), countermovement jump height (CMJ), peak isometric torque of quadriceps (QPT) and hamstring (HPT) muscles were examined. For evaluation of sport-specific performance, 10 second sprint cycling peak power (PP10), total 30 second work (TW), peak power output (PPO) and flying 200 meter time trial performance (TT) were assessed. No pre-training differences were observed between CT, ST and CG groups for any of the dependant variables. After training, a significant (p<0.05) between group difference was observed in TW between CT and CG groups. A significant effect of time (p<0.05) was observed for LLLM in CT and ST groups, and for TT in the CT group. These results suggest including strength and sprint exercises in training can increase lower limb lean mass and sprint performance in endurance trained masters road cyclists. Further research is warranted to find out an ideal pattern of training to maintain aerobic capabilities along with sprint performance in aging road cyclists.

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