Seniors at Morningside Set the Pace

Morningside Retirement Community residents stretched, walked around a cone, stepped in place and did arm curls Thursday as part of a nationwide study on senior citizen fitness.

Holding on to chairs, 85-year-old Jerry Roth, who walks with a cane, stepped 59 times in two minutes as researchers measured his cardiovascular endurance and balance. “I feel a little pain because I have neuropathy in my thighs from my diabetes,” he said during the exercise.

Across the room, 77-year-old Frieda King completed 13 arm curls in 30 seconds and 10 chair stands in another half minute. “This gives us all an idea of how fit we are and how unfit we are,” she joked.

The tests are being conducted as a serious measure of the power, strength and agility of adults over 60, said Jesse Jones, a Cal State Fullerton kinesiology and health professor co-directing the study. About 5,000 seniors will be tested across the country over the next year and a half.

The results, which are expected to set nationwide senior fitness standards, will be published and turned into a video for people to use to assess their own fitness levels. In addition, the tests and the results could be used by physicians and other care providers to prescribe appropriate rehabilitative activities, Jones said.

“We’re measuring functional mobility in order to identify those who are at risk of becoming frail and losing their individuality, because then we can intervene,” Jones said. “Physicians take your blood pressure and monitor your heart rate, but they never measure your mobility, so this is a very large contribution to science.”

Jones said the fitness testing will not prevent physical setbacks that could lead to disabilities or other problems. But finding out about physical weaknesses and doing something about them could postpone frailty.

The Morningside participants will finish their testing with a nine-minute walk today. They praised the study, saying it could help people prevent problems in the future.

“People should realize the condition they’re in,” Roth said.