IHMC M3AX Trial studies health benefits of exercise in older adults
By Sandra Averhart
May 13, 2025 at 5:00 AM CDT
The Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola is looking for people — age 60 or older — to participate in a clinical trial exploring how exercise can improve key health benefits for older adults.
Dr. Marcas Bamman is a senior research scientist, who’s leading the IHMC team conducting the study, officially named Multidimensional Modeling to Maximize Adaptations to Exercise.
“We call it the M3AX Trial and the reason why we call it the Max Trial is number one, we want to maximize benefit,” said Dr. Bamman. “But, number two, we’re taking what I call a multidimensional approach — from the small molecule to the whole person — to try to identify those features that we can tweak or modify to then maximize their benefits.”
Funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, specifically, the National Institute on Aging, a key part of the three-year study is understanding why two individuals don’t respond the same to exercise or why one benefits to a greater magnitude in terms of metabolic health, physical performance, and cognitive performance.
“If we can learn what makes those two people different, we can hopefully identify ways of enhancing or augmenting the responsiveness or the adaptations of the person who didn’t quite get as far along in their benefit,” Bamman stated.
IHMC is conducting the trial in partnership with the Oklahoma Medical Research Center and the University of Florida. To participate, individuals must be at least 60 years of age and commit to three days a week at IHMC for exercise training and testing over the course of 28 weeks (six months). Between the three participating sites, the goal is to complete this study on some 250 seniors.
Greg Addison, a member of IHMC's Healthspan, Resilience, and Performance Team, demonstrates a type of strength training that will be required of seniors participating in the M3AX Trial. (4000x3000, AR: 1.3333333333333333)
“Our first recruitment burst in the Greater Pensacola region was fantastic,” he declared. “We had hundreds of people connect with us through our online pre-screening platform. And, then, of those people, many of them are currently enrolled in the study. Some are being evaluated, some are considering it. All of those things are in the works.”
But not everyone that signs up is a good candidate. Some can’t accommodate the time commitment and, according to Bamman, others are already fit, or “exercise trained” and would not yield the kind of data they’re looking for.
“You know, exercisers like to exercise, right? They’re actually not eligible, because what we’re trying to do is improve the health status of people who are not currently exercising,” he stated.
For those who want to participate, the study follows federal recommendations for “combined training” activities, including endurance training and strength training, to keep heart rate up.
“Strength training for older adults is really, really important,” said Bamman. “We have a gradual loss of muscle mass and function as we get older.”
With that in mind, a key element of this study is to improve functional muscle quality, which helps prevent falls and enhances overall movement for daily activities such as climbing stairs and getting in and out of bed.
Another key element is “cardiorespiratory fitness,” which refers to the ability of the heart, lungs, and blood vessels to efficiently deliver oxygen to working muscles during exercise. A crucial measurement of that is maximum oxygen consumption, commonly known as VO2 max.
“This happens to be one of the most important predictors of all-cause mortality, one of the most important predictors of disease risk,” said Bamman. “So we use that as a major index to say, ‘In Person A, did we improve their VO2 Max through this exercise training intervention sufficiently to have an impact on their health status?’”
Nurse Practitioner Greg Addision, a member of IHMC's Healthspan, Resilience and Performance Team demonstrates one type of weight lifting or strength training included in the new clinical trial on the benefits of exercise in seniors. (3772x3000, AR: 1.2573333333333334)
The comprehensive clinical trial is also studying cognitive function, metabolism, and how well people manage their diet and blood sugar (glucose) levels. And through blood and tissue analysis, it goes all the way down to the molecular level.
“Is it something in their metabolism, is it something in their psyche, something in their diet, their sleep patterns?” said Bamman, in reference to questions their trying to answer with their research. “There’re all sorts of possible reasons why someone adapted better than anyone else. If we can identify those reasons, which is the intent of the study, now we can intervene on it, to make sure they do reap that benefit, fully.”
Such interventions, for example, could help improve sleep quality or improve a person’s diet by increasing protein intake.
Dr. Bamman says the hope is that their study results will enact change in individuals and also encourage new health policies that can benefit the broader society.
“We want to come up with what I would call “actionable features,” he said. “These are discoveries through this research that we think we will help all people benefit, sort of, optimally, to exercise training.”
Recruitment will remain open for the next three years or until researchers reach their target number of over 200 participants. More information, including a link to the M3AX Prescreening Survey, is available on the Florida IHMC website.
Dr. Marcas Bamman is a senior research scientist, who’s leading the IHMC team conducting the study, officially named Multidimensional Modeling to Maximize Adaptations to Exercise.
“We call it the M3AX Trial and the reason why we call it the Max Trial is number one, we want to maximize benefit,” said Dr. Bamman. “But, number two, we’re taking what I call a multidimensional approach — from the small molecule to the whole person — to try to identify those features that we can tweak or modify to then maximize their benefits.”
Funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, specifically, the National Institute on Aging, a key part of the three-year study is understanding why two individuals don’t respond the same to exercise or why one benefits to a greater magnitude in terms of metabolic health, physical performance, and cognitive performance.
“If we can learn what makes those two people different, we can hopefully identify ways of enhancing or augmenting the responsiveness or the adaptations of the person who didn’t quite get as far along in their benefit,” Bamman stated.
IHMC is conducting the trial in partnership with the Oklahoma Medical Research Center and the University of Florida. To participate, individuals must be at least 60 years of age and commit to three days a week at IHMC for exercise training and testing over the course of 28 weeks (six months). Between the three participating sites, the goal is to complete this study on some 250 seniors.
Greg Addison, a member of IHMC's Healthspan, Resilience, and Performance Team, demonstrates a type of strength training that will be required of seniors participating in the M3AX Trial. (4000x3000, AR: 1.3333333333333333)
“Our first recruitment burst in the Greater Pensacola region was fantastic,” he declared. “We had hundreds of people connect with us through our online pre-screening platform. And, then, of those people, many of them are currently enrolled in the study. Some are being evaluated, some are considering it. All of those things are in the works.”
But not everyone that signs up is a good candidate. Some can’t accommodate the time commitment and, according to Bamman, others are already fit, or “exercise trained” and would not yield the kind of data they’re looking for.
“You know, exercisers like to exercise, right? They’re actually not eligible, because what we’re trying to do is improve the health status of people who are not currently exercising,” he stated.
For those who want to participate, the study follows federal recommendations for “combined training” activities, including endurance training and strength training, to keep heart rate up.
“Strength training for older adults is really, really important,” said Bamman. “We have a gradual loss of muscle mass and function as we get older.”
With that in mind, a key element of this study is to improve functional muscle quality, which helps prevent falls and enhances overall movement for daily activities such as climbing stairs and getting in and out of bed.
Another key element is “cardiorespiratory fitness,” which refers to the ability of the heart, lungs, and blood vessels to efficiently deliver oxygen to working muscles during exercise. A crucial measurement of that is maximum oxygen consumption, commonly known as VO2 max.
“This happens to be one of the most important predictors of all-cause mortality, one of the most important predictors of disease risk,” said Bamman. “So we use that as a major index to say, ‘In Person A, did we improve their VO2 Max through this exercise training intervention sufficiently to have an impact on their health status?’”
Nurse Practitioner Greg Addision, a member of IHMC's Healthspan, Resilience and Performance Team demonstrates one type of weight lifting or strength training included in the new clinical trial on the benefits of exercise in seniors. (3772x3000, AR: 1.2573333333333334)
The comprehensive clinical trial is also studying cognitive function, metabolism, and how well people manage their diet and blood sugar (glucose) levels. And through blood and tissue analysis, it goes all the way down to the molecular level.
“Is it something in their metabolism, is it something in their psyche, something in their diet, their sleep patterns?” said Bamman, in reference to questions their trying to answer with their research. “There’re all sorts of possible reasons why someone adapted better than anyone else. If we can identify those reasons, which is the intent of the study, now we can intervene on it, to make sure they do reap that benefit, fully.”
Such interventions, for example, could help improve sleep quality or improve a person’s diet by increasing protein intake.
Dr. Bamman says the hope is that their study results will enact change in individuals and also encourage new health policies that can benefit the broader society.
“We want to come up with what I would call “actionable features,” he said. “These are discoveries through this research that we think we will help all people benefit, sort of, optimally, to exercise training.”
Recruitment will remain open for the next three years or until researchers reach their target number of over 200 participants. More information, including a link to the M3AX Prescreening Survey, is available on the Florida IHMC website.