A 12-Week Vigorous Exercise Protocol in a Healthy Group of Persons over 65: Study of Physical Function by means of the Senior Fitness Test

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the effects of vigorous exercise on functional abilities by means of a Senior Fitness Test (SFT) in a group of elderly adults. Twenty healthy and inactive people performed vigorous exercise (VE: 12 men and 8 women, aged 69.6 ± 3.9 years). At the beginning of the study (T0) and after 3 months (T1), each subject's functional ability was tested for muscular strength, agility, cardiovascular fitness, flexibility, and balance. The VE was designed with continuous and interval exercise involving large muscle activities. Functional exercises were performed between 60% and 84% of heart rate reserve (HRR) for a duration of 65 minutes. Five out of the 6 SFTs performed were found significantly improved: Chair Stand (T0 12.4 ± 2.4, T1 13.5 ± 2.6, p < 0.01), Arm Curl (T0 14.2 ± 3.6, T1 16.6 ± 3.6, p < 0.01), 2 min step (T0 98.2 ± 15.7, T1 108.9 ± 16.2, p < 0.01), Chair Sit-and-Reach (T0 −9.9 ± 7.7 cm, T1 1.7 ± 6.3 cm, p < 0.01), and Back Scratch (T0 −15.8 ± 10.9 cm, T1 −8.4 ± 13.1 cm, p < 0.01). Our results suggest that a high intensity protocol and functional exercises can improve functional mobility and muscle endurance in those over 65 years of age. SFTs are an effective method for assessing improvements in the functional capacity of elderly adults.

The Effect of Nordic Walking Training with Poles with an Integrated Resistance Shock Absorber on the Functional Fitness of Women over the Age of 60

“…The obtained results might be compared to those of other studies involving training with aerobic and resistance exercises among older people. As observed in this research, the main time effects of marching training for both the EG and the CG on strength, endurance and agility are similar to those of other studies in which mixed exercise programs were employed [10,25,[27][28][29].…”

The validity and reliability of the Healthy Lifestyle Screening Tool

“…Exercise has been reported as a very important factor in the maintenance of good health [31][32][33]. Todde et al [33] has suggested that high-intensity exercise and functional exercises can improve functional mobility and muscle endurance among those who are above the age of 65.…”

The Impact of Aging and Estimated Training Status on Blood Pressure and Antihypertensive Medicine Consumption

“…Despite there are a lot of positive indicators about the relationship between active lifestyle and health (such as better control of dyslipidemia, improvement of diabetes, obesity, BP, among others), the sedentary behavior is prevalent in the population [14,19] . Moreover, among the elderly who practice physical exercise, the most of them prefer to practice the exercise independently, without supervision (no control of intensity, duration and frequency), which can represent no positive effect for health [19,20] .…”