The Rosenborg players have been there. To test the shape.
Now there are athletes in completely different age groups who test their form at the fitness lab at St. Olav’s hospital in Trondheim. It is the turn of the 80- and 90-year-olds. An 81-year-old runs on the treadmill.
– Come on, Hagbart, you are now down to 60 years, are you ready for another increase? Your heart is working great – you’re getting younger with every step you take.
NOT EVERYONE OVER 80 RUNS ON THE Treadmill: Project engineer Lars Valderhaug, th, is impressed by Hagbart Vebostad’s efforts on the treadmill. Photo: Stein Roar Leite / TV 2
Behind the oxygen mask the 81-year-old is wearing, a confirming “yes” can be heard. Hagbart is ready: they turn up the pace.
80-year-olds run like fifty-year-olds
Inside the sweaty lab, the battle cries of Lars Valderhaug and Dorthe Stensvold in the Generation 100 project are heard.
– Twenty seconds to go, you have a great step now.
– It’s good, you’re on track now. You have the fitness of a fifty year old!
The researchers have been doing this for over ten years, they want to find out how much exercise can mean for older people’s health and ageing.
And the runner is completely on board.
– I like to run outside four times a week, then I run ten kilometers each time. And then I do interval training indoors in a team with other seniors, then we run 800 meters four times. We do that once a week.
Hagbart Vebostad was not difficult to ask when the research project sent out a request to all elderly people in Trondheim municipality more than ten years ago.
– Not everyone is in Hagbart’s category, but we have several over 80 who test as 30- and 40-year-olds, says professor of exercise medicine, Dorthe Stensvold.
WILL EXERCISE PROVIDE A LONGER LIFE? The research group at NTNU in Trondheim will over ten years try to find the final scientific answer. Professor Dorthe Stensvold says everything indicates that exercise leads to healthier and longer lives. Photo: Stein Roar Leite / TV 2
She has no doubts; exercise is medicine.
Exercise extends life
– We don’t know how much potential there is in training, but we want to find out that potential by following them over decades.
In the project in Trondheim, led by NTNU, the heart and brain are checked in addition to fitness and balance.
Stensvold says that they have regularly presented their results at international conferences. And the reactions are a bit like this: foreign researchers ask if the results can be correct?
– Yes, they are almost in disbelief when we tell them about these participants’ results. And wonder that we dare to test them so hard. We are perhaps in a special position in Norway when it comes to the physical condition of older people, believes Stensvold.
Hagbart, for his part, believes that more people in his generation should have stood for more.
– Yes, yes, many of them should have done much more.
He takes part in several Norwegian championships throughout the year, and says he will soon be alone in his age group.
Run and coffee
In Ranheimshallen in Trondheim, you meet the seniors who absolutely keep in shape. Every week, the pensioners meet and run 800 meters four times. In group.
– Ugh, no, today was tough, Hagbart groans.
JUST AS IMPORTANT AS EXERCISE: Socializing after the training sessions is emphasized as equally important. Hagbart, at the end of the table, claims that world problems are solved there. Photo: Stein Roar Leite / TV 2
A little displeased, he leaves the field. But they must have coffee. Everytime.
– Here at the cafe we discuss world problems, you know, as old as we are, we think we have the answer. And the social part of it is important.
The vessels sit around the table, and sandwiches and waffles are consumed. Presumably these guys are in better shape than some forty-fifty-year-olds.
See video below.
Must take responsibility yourself
Considering how many elderly people there will be in our country over time, the professor thinks it is important to ask the question “who is it that can be self-reliant for many years?”.
– Training is absolutely no guarantee, but if you train, the risk of getting sick and dying early will be very, very much less, says Stensvold.
– The most important thing for the elderly is to be self-reliant and stay healthy, that’s where we think exercise can really help, says the professor.
When the Generation 100 project started in 2012, it was hailed as the world’s largest project on heart health and fitness among the elderly.
300 participants were last tested in 2018. Now in 2022/23 they will meet again to tell through physical tests how they are doing.
– Deterioration among the elderly happens quickly if you let yourself down and do not exercise or move, and quite quickly this will lead to the fact that everyday tasks can no longer be done.
SMILE, DESPITE A BAD DAY: Hagbart Vebostad greatly appreciates the weekly training sessions with other well-adjusted adults. He plans to participate in the NM at the end of January. Photo: Stein Roar Leite / TV 2
Everyone must ensure that they take good care of their health, the professor believes, and is supported by Hagbart, one of the participants in the Generation 100 project.
Even though he had a rather strenuous session in the hall, he smiles brightly when we ask how it is to be involved.
– Yes, it’s great to be involved.
– Do you recommend this to others?
– Yes, preserve it, this has to do with health!
