Background: The population of older adults is increasing worldwide, which brings attention to the importance of healthy aging. Adoption of healthy lifestyle activities such as participating in physical activity on a daily basis is key to maintaining physical and mental health. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of participation in a 12-week multidimensional exercise program on health behavior and biopsychological factors of older adults living in Northeastern Mexico. Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted with 45 older adults (35 females and 10 males; M = 67.24 ± 5.73 years). The participants were assigned to an experimental group (EG; n = 23) that participated in a 12-week exercise program and a control group (CG; n = 22). Pre-and post-analyses of the exercise intervention data were carried out to investigate the participants' health-related variables including physical activity levels, blood pressure, self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and blood lipids profiles. Results: The results indicated that the exercise intervention contributed to significant improvements in the older adults' health-related variables for the EG when contrasted with the control group. For instance, the EG significantly improved systolic (p < 0.001) and diastolic (p < 0.027) blood pressure, blood lipids [e.g., cholesterol (p < 0.05)], triglycerides (p < 0.05), self-esteem (p < 0.005), and depressive symptoms (p < 0.002) as well as physical activity (p < 0.001) levels. The results also demonstrated that only those individuals in the EG diagnosed with disease benefited from improved self-esteem and physical activity levels when contrasted with their healthy counterparts.

Objective: analyze and assess the psychometric properties of the subscales in the Spanish version of the Exercise Benefits/Barriers Scale in an elderly population in the Northeast of Mexico. Method: methodological study. The sample consisted of 329 elderly associated with one of the five public centers for senior citizens in the metropolitan area of Northeast Mexico. The psychometric properties included the assessment of the Cronbach's alpha coefficient, the Kaiser Meyer Olkin coefficient, the inter-item correlation, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis.Results: in the principal components analysis, two components were identified based on the 43 items in the scale. The item-total correlation coefficient of the exercise benefits subscale was good. Nevertheless, the coefficient for the exercise barriers subscale revealed inconsistencies.The reliability and validity were acceptable. The confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the elimination of items improved the goodness of fit of the baseline scale, without affecting its validity or reliability. Conclusion: the Exercise Benefits/Barriers subscale presented satisfactory psychometric properties for the Mexican context. A 15-item short version is presented with factorial structure, validity and reliability similar to the complete scale.

This descriptive comparative study examined differences in personal characteristics, exercise self-efficacy, benefits and barriers of independent elderly women to perform physical activity (PA) according with the PA level. Two hundred three women older than 60 years of age, from a community located in Nuevo Leon, Mexico participated in the study. Data was collected using: a) A personal data questionnaire, b) Exercise Self-Efficacy Scale, c) Exercise Benefits/ Barriers Scale and d) Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly were completed. Age was similar in participants with low and acceptable PA level. Participants with lower levels of PA reported consuming more medications, fewer years of education and lower values of exercise self-efficacy, benefits and barriers. In this sample, exercise self-efficacy and benefits were positively associated with the PA level.

Some studies show interest in measuring heart rate variability (HRV) during post-exercise recovery. It is known that the parasympathetic system is relevant during this process, where one of the factors of this modulation is the interaction of acetylcholine and cholinesterases (ChE). However, the behavior of ChE and its relationship during recovery is little known; therefore, the objective of this study was to analyze the behavior of ChE and its relationship with recovery evaluated in HRV indicators in volleyball players. An exercise protocol with long-term and intermittent high-intensity phases was applied in nine volleyball players. HRV measurements were made, and blood samples were drawn to evaluate the ChE before exercise and after 24 and 48 h post-exercise. The results show a modification of the variables after exercises with respect to the baseline values (ChE: 1818.4 ± 588.75 to 2218.78 ± 1101.58; RMSSD: 42.64 ± 12.86 to 17.72 ± 12.55 (p < 0.05); SS: 8.76 ± 1.93 to 21.93 ± 10.05 (p < 0.01); S/PS Ratio: 0.32 ± 0.14 to 3.26 ± 3.28 (p < 0.01)), as well as recovery after 24 and 48 h with respect to postexercise (ChE: 1608.81 ± 546.88 (p < 0.05) and 1454.54 ± 580.45 (p < 0.01); RMSSD: 43.83 ± 24.50 and 46.18 ± 33.22 (p < 0.01); SS; 10.93 ± 5.16 and 11.86 ± 4.32 (p < 0.01); S/PS Ratio: 0.46 ± 0.32 and 0.50 ± 0.28 (p < 0.01)). ChE correlations (p < 0.001) were found with moderate (SS: r = 0.465) and large (RMSSD: r = −0.654; S/PS Ratio: r = 0.666) HRV indexes. In conclusion, ChE modifications are related to changes in HRV showing a very similar behavior in the case of the study subjects.

El objetivo de este estudio fue determinar la composición corporal, índices corporales y somatotipo en jugadores de balonmano. Se evaluaron 48 jugadores (21 hombres y 27 mujeres) de un equipo universitario. Se realizaron mediciones antropométricas para obtener porcentaje grasa, masa muscular, índices corporales y somatotipo. Los resultados mostraron que los hombres presentan 11.82 % de grasa corporal, con un somatotipo meso-endomórfico. Por otro lado, un 22.49 % y somatotipo mesomorfo-endomorfo en mujeres. Estos datos son relevantes para poder realizar comparaciones con jugadores de máximo nivel y para mejorar la composición corporal de los atletas para intentar alcanzar el mejor rendimiento posible.