Repetibilidade e reprodutibilidade de um manual de exercícios físicos domiciliares

Physiological Profile Assessment and Self-Measurement of Healthy Students through Remote Protocol during COVID-19 Lockdown

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to reduced physical activity and increased sedentary behaviors, negatively impacting mental and physical health. Engaging in physical activity at home during quarantine became essential to counteracting these adverse effects. To develop appropriate physical activity programs, assessing individuals' fitness levels and the impact of inactivity is crucial. This study aims to compare motor abilities-including flexibility, balance, reaction time, cardiovascular endurance, and lower and upper limb strength-assessed both in-person and remotely, to determine the accuracy and repeatability of self-administered tests. Methods: A total of 35 young subjects (age 24.2 ± 1.97 years, BMI 22.4 ± 2.61 kg/m2) participated in this study. Each participant underwent a battery of motor ability tests designed to assess various fitness components. The tests were administered twice for each subject: once in a laboratory setting and once remotely at home. The sequence of tests was randomly assigned to ensure unbiased results. Both the in-person and remote assessments were used to evaluate the accuracy and reliability of self-administered tests. Results: The comparison of test results between the laboratory and remote settings revealed percentage differences ranging from 5% to 10%. This variation is considered an acceptable margin of error, suggesting that the tests conducted remotely were relatively accurate when compared to those performed in a controlled laboratory environment. Conclusions: The findings indicate that remote fitness testing is a promising method for evaluating motor abilities. With an acceptable margin of error, remote assessments can be effectively used to personalize training programs based on individuals' physiological characteristics. This approach may be particularly beneficial during times of limited access to fitness facilities, such as during quarantine, or for individuals seeking more flexible fitness evaluation methods.

The Impact of Measures Recommended by the Government to Limit the Spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on Physical Activity Levels, Quality of Life, and Mental Health of Brazilians

To reduce transmission of the coronavirus, the Brazilian government adopted containment measures to control the virus’ spread, including limitations to the practice of physical activity. It was aimed to analyze the effects of COVID-19 quarantine on physical activity levels, energy expenditure, quality of life, and level of stress in a sample of the Brazilian population. The sample included 426 participants (7 to 80 years). The International Physical Activity Questionnaire, Short form survey-36 (SF-36), and Stress Perception Scale, were used to assess the level of physical activity, quality of life and stress, respectively. The anthropometric data was used to the assessment of body mass index and basal metabolic rate. Body weight increased significantly in all sample (p < 0.05). During the pandemic, 84% of the sample indicated a low level of physical activity. Furthermore, weekly energy expenditure decreased significantly in all age groups during the pandemic (children p < 0.0001; adolescents: p < 0.0001; adults p < 0.001, and elderly p < 0.0001). All aspects of quality of life, significantly reduced in both sexes in all age groups (p < 0.05). With the exception of children, stress levels increased significantly during the pandemic (adolescents: male: p = 0.003, female: p < 0.05; adults: male: p = 0.003, female: p = 0.01, and elderly: male: p = 0.02, female: p = 0.03). Findings from the present study suggests that COVID-19 social isolation has negatively affected Brazilian’ physical activity and quality of life.

Objectively-Assessed Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, Smartphone Use, and Sleep Patterns Pre- and during-COVID-19 Quarantine in Young Adults from Spain

This study assessed the effects of COVID-19 home confinement on physical activity, sedentary behavior, smartphone use, and sleep patterns. Data was collected in a sample of 20 young adults (mean age ± SD: 22.6 ± 3.4 years; 55% males) over seven days pre- and during the COVID-19 lockdown. Objective and subjective physical activity (Accelerometer and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), respectively), the number of hours sitting (IPAQ), objectively-measured smartphone use (smartphone screen time applications), and objective and subjective sleep (accelerometer and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, respectively) were assessed. Results revealed significantly greater walking time and mean steps (p < 0.001, d = 1.223 to 1.605), and moderate and vigorous physical activity (p < 0.05, d = 0.568 to 0.616), in the pre- compared with the during-COVID-19 lockdown phase. Additionally, smartphone use (p = 0.009, d = 0.654), sitting time (p = 0.002, d = 1.120), and total sleep (p < 0.004, d = 0.666) were significantly greater in the during- compared with the pre-COVID-19 lockdown phase. Multiple regressions analyses showed associations between physical activity and sedentary behavior and sleep quality. The number of hours sitting per day and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity significantly predicted deep sleep (adj.R2 = 0.46). In conclusion, this study revealed that during the COVID-19 outbreak, behaviors changed, with participants spending less time engaging in physical activity, sitting more, spending more time using the smartphone, and sleeping more hours. These findings may be of importance to make recommendations, including lifestyle modifications during this time.

Outdoor circuit test: construction and validation of an instrument for the prediction of cardiorespiratory capacity for older adults

Abstract Objective: the present study aimed to construct, validate and verify the reliability of a protocol for assessing the cardiorespiratory capacity of older adults attending the Rio ao Ar Livre (Open Air Rio, or RAL) project entitled the “Outdoor Circuit Test” (OCT). Method: validity and reliability tests were carried out to assess the accuracy of the OCT, with 50 older adults (70.6 ± 6.3 years) of both sexes who regularly attended the RAL. Validity was tested by collecting VO2max data under maximal cardiopulmonary exercise test conditions, and the OCT variables: a) Circuit Execution Time; b) Heart Rate; c) Subjective Perception of Exertion; d) Average Heart Rate (HRméd). Reliability was tested through the reproducibility of the measurements of the OCT variables, expressed by the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC). The predictive capacity of VO2max was given by multiple linear regression and the final stability of the model by the analysis of the residues and the calculation of Cook’s distances, with a value of P≤ 0.05 adopted for statistical significance. Results: the predictive model based on age, sex, waist circumference, BMI and circuit execution time explained 41% of VO2max variance, with a standard error of estimate of 18.5%. Conclusion: the OCT exhibited satisfactory reproducibility (0.62 to 0.93), and proved to be valid, reliable, and specific for predicting the cardiorespiratory fitness of older adults attending RAL, demonstrating adequate reproducibility and a positive association with the physical fitness of older adults.