BACKGROUND There is limited knowledge regarding to what extent the older population meet the recommendations of physical exercise, especially fitness-enhancing exercise. This study assessed participation in health- and fitness-enhancing exercises in people aged >65, and explored to what extent the possible differences in meeting current recommendations differs by age, gender and education. ME...

BACKGROUND Physical activity (PA) and fitness are critical to maintaining health and avoiding chronic disease. Limited access to fitness facilities in low-income urban areas has been identified as a contributor to low PA participation and poor fitness. OBJECTIVES This research describes community-based fitness centers established for adults living in low-income, urban communities and characte...

Few paediatric health topics have sparked as much academic and public debate as school-based fitness testing. Since Rowland exclaimed nearly two decades ago that the “horse”, referring to schoolbased fitness testing is dead, opinion has been divided – to test or not to test. Whilst many agreed with Rowland`s criticisms, others suggest that it is not school-based fitness testing per se that is p...

Background & objectives: Today, accurate measurement of physical activity volume and assessment of physical fitness is necessary to promote community health. So, the purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of obesity and its relationship with physical fitness indices of Mashhad offices employees. Methods: A total of 3737 subjects aged 20 to 60 years (2559 men and 1178 women) we...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES Physical fitness level is a marker of cardiovascular health in young people. The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of a school-based intervention program, focused on increasing the volume and intensity of physical education (PE) sessions, on adolescents' physical fitness. METHODS Sixty-seven adolescents (12-14 years old) from three secondary school class...

Purpose: To investigate the potential health and fitness benefits of lower extremity functional electrical stimulation (FES) exercise for people with spinal cord injury (SCI). Method: Systematic review strategy conducted from electronic databases from 1830 until July 2008. Studies with randomized and/or controlled designs were highlighted for analysis, but all relevant literature was described ...

OBJECTIVE Whereas single assessments of cardiorespiratory fitness have been shown to predict lower incidence of type 2 diabetes, there are no data on long-term trends in fitness and risk. We investigated the relationship between long-term trends in fitness and the incidence of type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A cohort of 4,187 Japanese men free of diabetes completed annual health ...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of integrative neuromuscular training (INT) during physical education (PE) class on selected measures of health- and skill-related fitness in children. Forty children from two 2nd grade PE classes were cluster randomized into either an INT group (n = 21) or a control (CON) group (n = 19). INT was performed 2×/wk during the first ~15 min of each ...