It has been shown that high levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL cholesterol) and low levels of low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL cholesterol) are associated with health maintenance in older women. Studies examining the relationship between exercise training and lipoprotein levels are equivocal and thus the effects of exercise training on plasma lipoprotein levels in the elderly remains unclear. The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of endurance and resistance exercise on plasma lipoprotein levels in elderly women who were active but non-exercising prior to the study. A total of 45 healthy, active women, aged 70-87, were randomly assigned to either an aerobic training (AT, 76 ± 5 yr, N=15), resistance training (RT 73 ± 3 yr, N=15) or control (C, 74 ± 5 yr, N=15) group. AT walked 3d/wk at 70% heart rate reserve. The duration on day one was 20 minutes and it was increased by five minutes each day until subjects were walking for 50 minutes (week 3). The exercise training session for RT consisted of one to three sets of eight repetitions of eight different exercises at 8RM, while C maintained normal activity. Weight and diet were unchanged across groups. Blood samples were obtained from all subjects at week 0 and week 11. Training resulted in a significant decrease in One Mile Walk times (pre=20.2 ± 2.0 min; post=17.1 ± 1.0 min) and heart rate at completion of the walk (pre=108 ± 3 BPM; post=98 ± 3BPM) for AT and a significant increase in 8 RM of all RT exercises. Both AT and RT experienced increased HDL cholesterol (AT pre=45.4 ± 3.5 mg/dl, post=54.5 ± 2.9 mg/dl; RT pre=47.1 ± 3.3 mg/dl, post=57.4 ± 2.0 mg/dl) and decreased triglycerides (AT pre=149.9 ± 10.9 mg/dl, post=128.9 ± 15.2 mg/dl; RT pre=113.5 ± 13.0 mg/dl, post=84.6 ± 13.0 mg/dl) at week 11 compared to week 0. Control lipoproteins remained unchanged. RT also had significantly lower LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol compared to controls at week 11. (RT LDL=89.0 ± 11.2, C=132.1 ± 8.5 mg/dl; RT TC=162.7 ± 12.2, C=196.7 ± 8.2 mg/dl). Both resistance training and endurance training resulted in favorable changes to plasma lipoprotein levels for elderly women in only ten weeks. The fact that this occurred without concurrent changes in weight or diet is an indication that high intensity exercise alone can be used to modify lipoproteins in populations of healthy elderly.Keyword(s): exercise/fitness, older adult/aging issues, physical activity