Date of Award

Spring 8-1-2009

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Physical Education

First Advisor

Jolynn Kuhlman

Second Advisor

Rebecca Zakrajsek

Third Advisor

Alfred Finch

Abstract

It is known that the aging population is more susceptible to musculoskeletal and metabolic disease and would benefit from a regular exercise program. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate whether older adults (55 years of age and older) participation in a more regular exercise program would increase if there was supervision from a health professional. The second objective was to evaluate whether supervision in a regular exercise program would show physiological benefits. Subjects were recruited from three age-restricted communities; however one community was disregarded due to lack of subjects. A physical activity plan based on the American Heart Association (AHA) and American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) was provided to each subject. Subjects in community 1 were provided instructions to follow the program and return after 1 0 weeks to retake the physiological tests. They were asked to check in with the fitness staff at their facility to keep an accurate track of attendance for the program. The other community was given the same workout program, but in addition to the program they were given days and times to meet to perform the program with guided supervision. The community with supervision had 56% (n=25) meet full participation requirements in the exercise program and community without supervision had 30% (n=6) meet the full participation requirements. In the balance activity which consisted of a timed up and go test, there were significant differences between the two communities at the start of the study (p = .008). Using the post-test scores a paired t-test indicated that each community had a significant training effect for the balance activity (p=.Ol6, p=.03) for supervised and unsupervised, respectively. No physiological parameters measured were found to be statistically significant. Greater participation was seen for supervised exercise program, this may have been due to the increase of previous activity indicated by the significantly different timed up and go pre-test. The 1 0-week duration or a more rigorous progression of training intensity may have been needed to produce significant improvements.

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