Efficacy of a 6-week suspension training exercise program on fitness components in older adults

Key points

1. 01Functional reach improved markedly and overall balance improved moderately after just 12 sessions.
2. 02Body composition and grip strength did not change over the 6 weeks.
3. 03All 11 participants completed the program with 100% attendance and no dropouts.
4. 04The study was small (n=11), uncontrolled (no comparison group), and mostly female (8 of 11).
5. 05Authors frame the balance and stability gains as a potential pathway to reducing fall risk, which needs larger and longer trials to confirm.

How it was conducted

Design

Single-group pre-post intervention study, no control group

Participants

11 healthy, independently mobile, already-active older adults (3 men, 8 women), mean age 80 ± 5 years, from a retirement community

Intervention

6-week suspension training program, 2 classes per week of 50 minutes each (12 total sessions); 8 exercises plus stretch and recovery

Primary outcomes

Body composition (BIA), handgrip strength, functional reach test, and overall balance via NeuroCom Balance Master Sensory Organization Test

Analysis

Paired-sample t-test (p set at 0.05) with Cohen d effect sizes

What they found

• Functional reach improved from 57.2 ± 6.4 cm to 68.6 ± 4.3 cm (p = 0.02, ES = 1.15).
• Overall balance score improved from 67.5 ± 2.4 to 72.2 ± 2.2 (p = 0.02, ES = 0.45).
• Body fat showed no change (34.2 ± 2.6% vs 34.3 ± 2.8%, d = 0.01).
• Body mass showed no change (71.2 ± 4.9 kg vs 71.1 ± 4.9 kg, d < 0.01).
• Grip strength showed no significant change (22.4 ± 1.9 kg vs 22.8 ± 1.8 kg, d = 0.03).
• Among males (n=3), functional reach improved 18.4 ± 2.4 cm to 22.9 ± 2.2 cm (p ≤ 0.05, d = 0.80).
• Among females (n=8), functional reach changed 24.1 ± 1.0 cm to 28.6 ± 0.5 cm (d = 1.47).

Limitations

• Very small sample size (n=11) with no control group, so improvements cannot be confidently attributed to the training alone.
• Participants were predominantly female (8 women vs 3 men) and already meeting recommended activity levels, limiting how broadly the results apply.
• Short 6-week duration, and the program emphasized muscular endurance and balance rather than strength or hypertrophy.
• No pre-visit eating or hydration instructions and no food-intake tracking, which can affect the bioelectrical impedance body composition readings.

Why it matters

For patients

For active older adults, a short suspension training program may improve balance and reaching ability, which matters for everyday stability, though it is unlikely to change weight or grip strength.

For clinicians

Suspension training is a feasible, well-tolerated option that may yield early balance and functional-reach gains in older adults, but this uncontrolled pilot cannot establish fall-prevention benefit.

For readers

This is a small uncontrolled pilot suggesting suspension training improves balance in older adults; treat it as preliminary evidence pending larger controlled trials.