PSU Magazine Summer 1988

But none of the welcome news could have come about without a professional partnership between Dr. H erbert de Vries, a distinguished ex– ercise physiologist from Laguna Beach , Calif. , and faculty members in Portland State's School of Health and Physical Educat ion (HPE). De Vri es, professor emeritus with the famed Andrus Gerontology Center at the University of Southern California, is an exercise physiologist of international renown. Still an ac– tive researcher in his 70s, he con– tinues to pursue an ambitious schedule of research and lecturing. Speaking from his Southern California home, de Vries recalled that as little as 20 years ago, prevail– ing scientific thought was that if in– dividuals had not trained vigorously and conditioned themselves prior to age 40, then they were no longer trainable at older ages. "We set about testing that hypothesis and...we were among the first to show that the elderly are still as trainable - and in percentage terms even more trainable - than the young, because they start from a lower point,'' he said. His subsequent lectures and con– sultations with Portland State's Health and Physical Education facul– ty in recent years laid the ground– work for the ambitious research on whether a safer and more accurate sub-maximal fitn ess test could be developed, one that sensed muscle fatigue accurately, well before the subject became exhausted. The research team's initial study was completed two years ago at PSU and involved testing healthy, young male subjects recruited from the stu– dent population. The students pedal– ed stationary cycles while researchers measured their fitness levels by sens– ing when the increased electrical im– pulses in their upper leg muscles began to tire, thus detecting the onset of fatigue . The study proved successful. The second and most recent study was designed to build on the suc– cesses of the first , while seeking to answer several more research ques– tions: could this fitness assessment method be used effectively, precisely Interpreting fitness test results are California exercise physiologist Herbert de Vries and Jack Schendel, dean of PSU's School of Health and Physical Education. and safely for the needs of the elder– ly? After all, this population group is at risk if forced to exert to the point of exhaustion during a max– imal treadmill fitness test. De Vries knew from his and others' research that apart from questions of safety, many elderly people simply cannot put out enough power to give valid oxygen consumption readings on a treadmill test. Men and women 65 and over were recruited as test su~ects. De Vries had still more questions to answer: once this new sub– maximal fitness test proved sensitive enough to measure existing fitness levels, could it also be used to measure progress in a standard aerobic training and conditioning program over several weeks? And would the seniors make progress toward improved fitness which the test could measure? m 11 These were exciting challenges, and de Vries, with the help of Dr. Jack Schendel, a research team member and dean of Portland Srate's School of Health and Physical Education, had no trouble in recruiting other HPE faculty members: Dr. Michael Tichy, Dr. Loam Robertson, Dr. Milan Svoboda, and Dr. Gary Brodowicz. Also joining the team was Tichy's wife, Anna Mae, an instructor in the nursing program at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Ore. Dr. Paul Hull, Portland car– diologist and medical consultant to the " YMCArdiac Program" designed for cardiac patients undergoing rehabilitation, helped link the PSU study with the local Y's busy building schedule. In this way, the study could be conducted on the same days when physicians were already present to supervise the car– diac rehabilitation subjects. " The 'Y' was eager to join us in this project,'' Schendel noted. "I can't say enough about their