scholarly journals Determination of Step Rate Thresholds Corresponding to Physical Activity Intensity Classifications in Adults

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Abel ◽  
James Hannon ◽  
David Mullineaux ◽  
Aaron Beighle

Background:Current recommendations call for adults to be physically active at moderate and/or vigorous intensities. Given the popularity of walking and running, the use of step rates may provide a practical and inexpensive means to evaluate ambulatory intensity. Thus, the purpose of this study was to identify step rate thresholds that correspond to various intensity classifications.Methods:Oxygen consumption was measured at rest and during 10 minute treadmill walking and running trials at 6 standardized speeds (54, 80, 107, 134, 161, and 188 m·min-1) in 9 men and 10 women (28.8 ± 6.8 yrs). Two observers counted the participants’ steps at each treadmill speed. Linear and nonlinear regression analyses were used to develop prediction equations to ascertain step rate thresholds at various intensities.Results:Nonlinear regression analysis of the metabolic cost versus step rates across all treadmill speeds yielded the highest R2 values for men (R2 = .91) and women (R2 = .79). For men, the nonlinear analysis yielded 94 and 125 step·min-1 for moderate and vigorous intensities, respectively. For women, 99 and 135 step·min-1 corresponded with moderate and vigorous intensities, respectively.Conclusions:Promoting a step rate of 100 step·min-1 may serve as a practical public health recommendation to exercise at moderate intensity.

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 731-739
Author(s):  
Eric J. Evans ◽  
Keith E. Naugle ◽  
Tyler Owen ◽  
Kelly M. Naugle

Whether active gaming is an appropriate method to facilitate moderate-intensity physical activity in older adults remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the intensity of physical activity and enjoyment while playing three active video games in older adults compared with younger adults. Ten younger and 10 older adults played three active games on separate days. Participants played two 15-min periods per game: one period at a self-selected intensity and one period with structured instructions to maximize the movement. Physical activity intensity and enjoyment were measured during gameplay. The results indicated that older adults played games at significantly higher intensities (5.3 + 1.8 vs. 3.6 + 1.8 metabolic equivalents), spent less time in whole-body sedentary activity, and rated games more enjoyable compared with younger adults. With physical activity intensity being consistent with moderate-to-vigorous intensity for older adults during gameplay, the results suggest that active video games could be used as a cardiovascular tool for older adults.


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 1039-1043 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mallory R. Marshall ◽  
James M. Pivarnik

Background:Maternal physical activity declines across gestation, possibly due to changing perception of physical activity intensity. Our purpose was to a) determine whether rating of perceived exertion (RPE) during a treadmill exercise changes at a given energy expenditure, and b) identify the influence of prepregnancy physical activity behavior on this relationship.Methods:Fifty-one subjects were classified as either exercisers (N = 26) or sedentary (N = 25). Participants visited our laboratory at 20 and 32 weeks gestation and at 12 weeks postpartum. At each visit, women performed 5 minutes of moderate and vigorous treadmill exercise; speed was self-selected. Heart rate (HR), oxygen consumption (VO2), and RPE were measured during the last minute at each treadmill intensity.Results:At moderate intensity, postpartum VO2 was higher compared with 20- or 32-week VO2, but there was no difference for HR or RPE. For vigorous intensity, postpartum HR and VO2 were higher than at 32 weeks, but RPE was not different at any time points.Conclusions:RPE does not differ by pregnancy time point at either moderate or vigorous intensity. However, relative to energy cost, physical activity was perceived to be more difficult at 32 weeks compared with other time points. Pregnant women, then, may compensate for physiological changes during gestation by decreasing walking/running speeds.


2003 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 396-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Shen ◽  
Ang Chen ◽  
Hope Tolley ◽  
Kristin A. Scrabis

Guided by the interest-based motivation theory, this study examined the extent to which personal interest and situational interest accounted for boys’ and girls’ learning outcome in a middle school physical education dance unit. Personal and situational interests, physical activity intensity, and skill/knowledge outcome were measured in a random student sample (N = 57). Girls demonstrated higher personal interest in dance than the boys, but both groups were equally motivated with situational interest. Although the girls were not as physically active as boys, their skill/knowledge outcome measures were higher than those of the boys. It appears that gender may have little impact on the motivational effect of situational interest and that girls’ in-class learning might have higher quality than that of boys as a result of higher personal interest. The findings indicate that situational interest may motivate all students, but it is necessary to enhance personal interest in order for them to engage in quality learning.


2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy E. Mark ◽  
Ian Janssen

Background:Despite the plethora of research examining the physical activity-adiposity relation in youth, questions remain regarding the ideal intensity. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the independent effects of physical activity intensity and incidental movement on total and trunk adiposity.Methods:The sample consisted of 1165 youth aged 8 to 17 years from the 2003−04 U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Physical activity (low, moderate, vigorous intensity) and incidental movement (activity level when not physically active) were measured using Actigraph accelerometers over 7 days. Total body and trunk fat were measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry; age- and sex-specific percentile scores were calculated.Results:Bivariate analyses revealed an inverse relation between total, low, moderate and vigorous intensity physical activity with total body and trunk fat. After consideration of the total volume of physical activity in the multivariate analyses, moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity remained significantly related to total and trunk fat. Participants with the highest (top 12.5%) moderate-to-vigorous intensity activity values had total fat percentile scores that were 34 points lower than participants with the lowest (bottom 25%) values.Conclusion:These results are consistent with public health guidelines which recommend that children and youth participate in moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Graeme Morgan Crossley ◽  
Melitta Anne McNarry ◽  
Michael Rosenberg ◽  
Zoe R Knowles ◽  
Parisa Eslambolchilar ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND A significant proportion of youth in the United Kingdom fail to meet the recommended 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity every day. One of the major barriers encountered in achieving these physical activity recommendations is the perceived difficulty for youths to interpret physical activity intensity levels and apply them to everyday activities. Personalized physical activity feedback is an important method to educate youths about behaviors and associated outcomes. Recent advances in 3D printing have enabled novel ways of representing physical activity levels through personalized tangible feedback to enhance youths’ understanding of concepts and make data more available in the everyday physical environment rather than on screen. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this research was to elicit youths’ (children and adolescents) interpretations of two age-specific 3D models displaying physical activity and to assess their ability to appropriately align activities to the respective intensity. METHODS Twelve primary school children (9 boys; mean age 7.8 years; SD 0.4 years) and 12 secondary school adolescents (6 boys; mean age 14.1 years; SD 0.3 years) participated in individual semistructured interviews. Interview questions, in combination with two interactive tasks, focused on youths’ ability to correctly identify physical activity intensities and interpret an age-specific 3D model. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, content was analyzed, and outcomes were represented via tables and diagrammatic pen profiles. RESULTS Youths, irrespective of age, demonstrated a poor ability to define moderate-intensity activities. Moreover, children and adolescents demonstrated difficulty in correctly identifying light- and vigorous-intensity activities, respectively. Although youths were able to correctly interpret different components of the age-specific 3D models, children struggled to differentiate physical activity intensities represented in the models. CONCLUSIONS These findings support the potential use of age-specific 3D models of physical activity to enhance youths’ understanding of the recommended guidelines and associated intensities.


Author(s):  
James Roemmich ◽  
LuAnn Johnson ◽  
Grace Oberg ◽  
Joley Beeler ◽  
Kelsey Ufholz

Less physical activity among rural residents may contribute to rural-urban health disparities. Parks can be ideal community resources for promoting physical activity. This study compared park visitation and activity intensity at 15 urban and 15 rural parks matched for acreage and amenities. Parks were observed in the morning, afternoon, and evening on 4 days to determine number of visitors, activity intensity, and amenity use. A total of 5486 visitors were observed with no differences in percentages of males (55.5% vs. 53.9%) and females (44.5% vs. 46.1%) or percentages of weekday (82.4% vs. 81.9%) and weekend (17.6% vs. 18.1%) visitors. The probability of visitors sitting was greater and in moderate intensity activity lower at rural parks. A greater proportion of children (25.0% vs. 14.5%) in rural parks, and teens in urban parks (8.0% vs. 69.6%), were observed on sport fields. A greater proportion of adults in urban areas (12.5% vs. 46.0%) were observed spectating sports. Greater proportions of rural children (10.9% vs. 3.5%), teens (34.1% vs. 12.4%), and adults (38.9% vs. 10.1%) were observed using shelters. Thus, when similar amenities are available, rural and urban parks are used differently, especially by youth. The urban park study results cannot be wholly applied to rural parks.


2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (11) ◽  
pp. 975-982 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Santos-Lozano ◽  
F. Santín-Medeiros ◽  
G. Cardon ◽  
G. Torres-Luque ◽  
R. Bailón ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (5S) ◽  
pp. 646
Author(s):  
Anthony T. Allred ◽  
Poram Choi ◽  
Roland O. Webster ◽  
Ben R. Abadie ◽  
Stamatis Agiovlasitis

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (9) ◽  
pp. 1257-1267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory A Panza ◽  
Beth A Taylor ◽  
Paul D Thompson ◽  
C Michael White ◽  
Linda S Pescatello

The effect of physical activity intensity on subjective well-being has not been well established. We examined this relationship among 419 healthy adults using objective and subjective physical activity measurements (sample size varied among well-being assessments). For accelerometers, light-intensity physical activity positively associated with psychological well-being ( n = 150) and negatively associated with depression ( n = 99); moderate intensity negatively associated with pain severity ( n = 419) and positively associated with psychological well-being; sedentary behavior negatively associated with psychological well-being and positively associated with depression ( ps < .05). These findings were generally consistent with subjective measurements of physical activity (Question 8, Paffenbarger Questionnaire). Higher levels of sedentary behavior are associated with lower subjective well-being.


2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 589-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sin-Ae Park ◽  
Ho-Sang Lee ◽  
Kwan-Suk Lee ◽  
Ki-Cheol Son ◽  
Candice A. Shoemaker

The metabolic cost of 10 gardening tasks was measured in children to determine the exercise intensities associated with these tasks. Seventeen children [(mean ± sd) aged 12.4 ± 0.7 years and body mass index 21.6 ± 4.0 kg·m−2] participated in this study. The children performed the 10 gardening tasks at a garden previously established in Cheongju, Chungbuk, South Korea. They visited the garden twice and performed five different tasks on each visit. Five minutes were provided to complete each gardening task and a 5-minute rest was allowed between each task. The children wore a portable telemetric calorimeter and a heart rate monitor for measurement of oxygen uptake and heart rate during the gardening tasks. The results show that the 10 gardening tasks represented moderate- to high-intensity physical activity for the children [4.3 ± 0.5 to 6.6 ± 1.6 metabolic equivalents (MET)]. Digging (6.6 ± 1.6 MET) and raking (6.2 ± 1.5 MET) were high-intensity physical activities, and digging was more intense than the other gardening tasks performed in this study (P < 0.05). Tasks such as weeding (5.8 ± 1.1 MET), mulching (5.5 ± 1.3 MET), hoeing (5.3 ± 0.7 MET), sowing seeds (5.0 ± 1.1 MET), harvesting (4.8 ± 0.6 MET), watering (4.6 ± 1.1 MET), mixing growing medium (4.4 ± 0.6 MET), and planting transplants (4.3 ± 0.5 MET) were moderate-intensity physical activities. The MET data for the gardening tasks will facilitate the development of garden-based exercise interventions for children, which can promote health and physically active lifestyle.


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