| Keywords |
Elderly ; The outdoor exercise equipment ; Cross-country ; Sky-walk ; VO2 |
| Abstract |
The purpose of this study was to investigate the physiological response to exercise by using outdoor exercise equipment in elderly population. Eleven male(69.45±6.01 year old) and thirteen female(70.38±4.98 year old) participated in the study. Participants were asked to exercise with two different outdoor exercise equipments(cross-country and skywalk). Subjects were asked to exercise at predetermined intensity for five minutes and their heart rate(HR), oxygen consumption(VO2) and rate of perceived exertion(RPE) were monitored. SPSS/PC + version 18.0 statistical software was used for the study. The results are as follows. HR and VO2 increased up to 137.88±17.59 bpm and 20.17±2.96 ml/min/kg during cross-country exercise. During sky-walk exercise, HR and VO2 increased up to 117.88±21.53 bpm and 14.67±4.60 ml/min/kg respectively. During sky-walk and cross-country exercise RPEs were increased up to 16.41±1.79 and 13.29±4.01 respectively. When these physiological responses were analyzed by gender, HR were increased more in female than male during sky walk exercise, however, their VO2 and RPE were significantly lower. During cross-country exercise, HR were increased more in female than male participants and VO2 and RPE were not different between each gender. When physiological responses to outdoor exercise equipment were analyzed according to their age (60-70 years old vs 70-80 year old), HR, VO2 and RPE were significantly higher among subjects whose ages are over 70 year old compared to subjects whose age are between 60-70 year old during sky-walk exercise. In summary, physiological responses to exercise using outdoor exercise equipment are gender dependent, however, generally these exercise result in physiological stress which is similar to moderate to high intensity level exercise. |