Aim: To investigate the metabolic and anti-inflammatory effects of resveratrol alone and when combined with exercise training in skeletal muscle of aged human subjects. Material and Methods: Healthy physically inactive men (60-72 year old) were randomized into either 8 weeks of daily intake of 250 mg resveratrol or placebo or into 8 weeks of high intensity exercise training with 250 mg resveratrol or placebo. Before and after the interventions, resting blood samples and muscle biopsies were obtained and a one-leg knee-extensor endurance exercise test (KEE) was performed. Results: Exercise training increased skeletal muscle PGC-1α mRNA ~1.5-fold, cytochrome c protein ~1.3 fold, cytochrome c oxidase I protein ~1.5-fold, citrate synthase activity ~1.3-fold, 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase activity ~1.3-fold, IκB-α and IκB-β protein content ~1.3-fold and time to exhaustion in KEE by ~1.2-fold with no significant additive or adverse effects of resveratrol on these parameters. Despite an overall ~25% reduction in total acetylation level in skeletal muscle with resveratrol, no exclusive resveratrol-mediated metabolic effects were observed on the investigated parameters. Notably however, resveratrol blunted an exercise training-induced decrease (~20%) in protein carbonylation and decrease (~40%) in TNFα mRNA content in skeletal muscle. Conclusion: Resveratrol did not elicit metabolic improvements in healthy aged subjects; in fact resveratrol even impaired the observed exercise training-induced improvements in markers of oxidative stress and inflammation in skeletal muscle. Collectively this highlights the metabolic efficacy of exercise training in aged subjects and do not support that resveratrol is a potential exercise mimetic in healthy aged subjects.