In elderly, higher quality of life (QoL) is associated with lower overall mortality. QoL, which encompasses physical and mental health, benefits from increased motor fitness (cardiorespiratory fitness). This study investigated which type of exercise is most effective in a 16-week walking training (cardiovascular) vs. a track-and-field athletic training when compared to a toning and relaxation training (active control; two times one hour per week). Motor fitness was evaluated by a six-minute-walk test (from a motoric test battery), QoL by the QoL-SF-36 questionnaire and the geriatric depression scale (GDS) before and after the training intervention in 46 elder participants (age: M=64; female 23; BMI M=24; MoCA M=27); the three groups were matched for socioeconomic factors and motor skills pre intervention. The 2x3 mixed ANOVA with the factors time (pre, post) and group (walking, track-and-field, relaxation) for motor fitness yieled an interaction [F(2,43)=6.67, p<0.001, η²=0.02], and a main effect for time [F(1,43)=48.08, p<0.001, η²=0.05]. For psychological QoL, the same ANOVA yielded only a main effect for time [F(1,43)=4.21, p=0.046, η²=0.01]. For physical QoL there were no significant effects. In addition, the ANOVA for GDS yielded a marginally significant interaction [F(2,43)=2.93, p=0.064, η²=0.02], and a marginally significant main effect for time [F(1,43)=3.63, p=0.063, η²=0.01]. It is suggested that walking improves motor fitness more than track-and-field, and relaxation. All exercise types improve psychological QoL, whereas the experimental groups possibly decreased in their depression scores.