Aging is a natural and inevitable biological degenerative process that has a major impact on the body composition and physical fitness of the elderly people. Body composition is a good indicator of an individual's health status and changes in body composition have a strong influence on the occurrence of chronic non-communicable diseases. Physical fitness of the elderly is declining but the strength of the lower and upper extremities and aerobic endurance are especially important for a greater degree of independence. The purpose of the master's thesis was to examine the impact of an eight-week exercise program on body composition and physical fitness (strength and aerobic endurance) in older adults.
The sample consisted of 15 senior citizens from the municipality of Grosuplje, aged between 65 and 86 years of age. All the trainees were able to walk independently, without pain and during the study were all healthy. Antropometric measurements such as body height and weight were measured. Body composition was measured on the Tanita BC-1500 body composition analyzer. Lower and upper extremity strength along with aerobic endurance were measured with senior fitness tests. Exercise programme was regularly done for 8 weeks, once a week of 120 min physical activity. Data were analyzed with SPSS 23.0 and Microsoft Excel 2013. Descriptive statistics of the sample were calculated and the impact of exercise was verified by a t-test for dependent samples or Wilcoxon's Sum Rank test in the event of a breach of condition. A 5% level of risk was used to test the hypotheses.
We found a statistically significant effect of exercise on physical abilities but not on body composition. The trainees made the most progress in the arm curl test, followed by chair stand up test and a 6-minute walking test. Most of the elderly (60%) had an increased body mass index and half of the sample had an increased proportion of body fat. Further study of the effect of body composition on the health of the elderly is needed and the impact of the combined diet and exercise regimen on changes in the body composition and physical fitness of the elderly should be examined.
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