Some Latest Research in Exercise and fitness

Research no -1

Aging, Fitness, and Marathon Times in a 91 Year-old Man Who Competed in 627 Marathons

Aging is associated with a decline in maximal aerobic capacity (VO2max) that may be attenuated by chronic endurance exercise. This case study chronicles the changes in marathon times in a 91 year aged man who completed 627 marathons and 117 ultramarathons over 42 years. He began running marathons at age 48. His yearly greatest times remained fairly constant at ~240 minutes from age 50 - 64 years and then gradually rose to about 260 minutes in his early seventies followed by a curvilinear deterioration as he approached his ninth decade. His times plateaued at ~ 600 minutes in his late eighties. Between ages 68 and 89 his VO2max declined from 43 to 20 ml/kg/min. His marathon times were highly correlated with his VO2max (r2=0.87). The decline in marathons times and VO2max may reflect the contributions of biological aging, changes in exercise teaching volume and intensity, injuries, and comorbid disease.

Research no -2

Assessment of Health and Physical Fitness of Students by the Results of the Exercises of the "Ready for Labor and Defense" Programme

By the decree of the Russian President from 3/24/2014 No. 172 "About All-Russian physical culture training and sporting programme "Ready for Labor and Defense" it was declared about the revival in Russia of the "Ready for Labor and Defense" programme directed to promoting sport and increase of a number of citizens, leading an active and healthy lifestyle. The purpose of the present research is a comparative analysis of physical fitness of students according to the results of the exercises done from the programme "Ready for Labor and Defense". The authors also tried to state the dependence of quality of doing the exercises from morphological indicators and the strength level of young men and girls. The research included 314 students of 18-20 year of age, mostly engaged in main preparatory sports groups.

The received results demonstrate influence of health level and adaptation opportunities on quality of performing the exercises of the "Ready for Labor and Defense" programme in which such physical qualities as strength, endurance and speed are tested. Such physical qualities as flexibility and coordination depend on morphological features of a body (length of a body and a constitution type) more than on health level.

Involving students in performing the exercises from programme "Ready for Labor and Defense", they have a need for increase in physical activity for development of the physical shape that makes a positive impact on a state of healthiness.

Research no -3

The Effects of Supervised Exercise Program on Health-Related Physical Fitness in Kuwait

Aims: Physical activity improves health in terms of cardiovascular fitness, musculo-skeletal fitness, body composition, and metabolism. The study aims to examine the things of supervised exercise training on metabolic profile and health-related physical fitness parameters in Kuwait.

Study Design: A prospective observational study.

Place and Duration of Study: Fitness and Rehabilitation Center (Dasman Diabetes Institute, Kuwait) between January 2012 and December 2013.

Methodology: We included 90 participants (44 women), mean age 48.6 (±14.4) years with adherence exceeding 50%. Outcome measures health-related physical fitness (measured by cardiopulmonary exercise testing) and other secondary outcome measures including anthropometric data, vital signs, and glycemic profile values.

Results: Paired t-test was used to evaluate the effects of exercise training. Both diabetic and non-diabetic participants showed significant increase in peak oxygen consumption (3.0 ml∙min-1∙kg-1; 95% CI: 2.3 to 3.7; p <0.001). There was significant reduction in BMI (-0.6 kg/m2; 95% CI: -0.9 to -0.3; p<0.001), waist circumference (-2.2cm; 95% CI: -3.4 to -1.0; p = 0.002) and body fat percentage (-0.9%; 95% CI: -1.4 to -0.3; p = 0.002). The glycated hemoglobin significantly decreased (p=0.001). Fasting blood glucose and lipid profile improved but were not statistically significant. The exercise intervention reduced the systolic blood pressure (BP) and diastolic BP by a mean of 0.6 (95% CI: -3.2 to 1.9; p = 0.63) and 2.6 mmHg (95% CI: -4.9 to -0.3; p=0.03) respectively, with the latter being statistically important. Significant changes were also noted in variables of total handgrip (4.2 kg; 95% CI: 1.4 to 7.0; p=0.04) and push-up (4.2 repetition; 95% CI: 1.9 to 6.4; p < 0.001).

Conclusion: The 12-week supervised exercise intervention used seems to improve cardiorespiratory fitness, glycemic control, diastolic BP and anthropometric measurements. This improvement can indicate that keep fit decrease cardiovascular events and mortality.