To take part in this research project, you must be:
- 20-30 years old or 65 to 75 years old
- be more than one year since last menses (postmenopausal women)
- able to provide informed consent
- willing and able to comply with all study procedures - including maintenance of habitual dietary intake, exercise, and medication use - during the study period
You can’t take part in this study if you:
- live in a residential care home
- have unstable or clinically active pulmonary, cardiac, hepatic, renal, endocrine, hematologic, immunologic, neurologic, psychiatric or biliary disorders. ‘Unstable’ refers to complications of a condition that are not controlled by medication or lifestyle and which require frequent monitoring and testing by a health professional. Unless specified below, if you have stable chronic disease, you may still be eligible to participate
- have diagnosed Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus or another metabolic disease(s) that would affect study outcomes
- have a diagnosed:
- autoimmune condition
- osteoarthritis affecting more than one joint
- cancer (present or past) that required systemic treatment (e.g., chemotherapy)
- You have severe hypertension (systolic blood pressure ≥180 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure ≥120 mmHg), as defined by blood pressure measured at visit 1
- currently smoke tobacco/use vaping devices, or take recreational drugs
- have had changes to use of thyroid, blood pressure-lowering, antidepressant or statin medications within 30 days of visit 1
- are taking medications that will interfere with the study outcomes (we will check this for you so please be prepared to share details of any medication use at the screening meeting)
- regularly participate in resistance training (once a week or more)
- take part in high levels of non-recreational exercise (>6h per week of high-intensity exercise or sport)
- have a known negative reaction to lidocaine anaesthetic and/or taking warfarin or take any other blood thinning medication
- have a Fat Mass Index (FMI) after the DEXA scan of:
- (20-30 years old) less than 3 and greater than 10 kg/m2 (men) and less than 5 and greater than 12 kg/m2 (women). We will check this during visit 1
- (65-75 years old) less than 3 and greater than 12 kg/m2 (men) and less than 5 and greater than 16 kg/m2 (women). We will check this during visit 1
- do not have a stable weight in the prior 3 months (less than 5% weight change, which is ~3.5kg for a 70kg person. 1kg = 2.2lbs)
- have an injury or condition that would prevent completion of resistance exercise
- are unable to communicate in English