Lifetime physical activity/fitness and functional performance standards of older adults

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the influence physical activity levels at adolescence (15--20), middle age (30--35), and older age (present), has on adults' performance on the AAHPERD Functional Fitness Assessment for adults over 60 years. The functional fitness assessment is a field-test divided into six parameters that determine the functional capacity of older adults. The six parameters tested include: Ponderal index, flexibility, agility/dynamic balance, coordination, strength, and endurance. The sub-purposes of this study were to: (1) determine the relationship between functional fitness parameters; (2) establish and report normative scores established in this study according to age group and gender; and (3) compare these normative scores established in this study to the pre-established National AAHPERD scores for the functional fitness assessment according to age group and gender of older adults from ages 60--64, 65--69, 70--74, 75--79, 80--84, and 85--90. The subjects were 131 female and 63 male volunteers from senior service centers and health promotion programs located in various cities in Kansas including: Tonganoxie, Kansas City, and Lawrence. The data were collected from November to December, 2000. The subjects completed the Exercise/Activity Behavior Inventory to determine activity levels at different ages during life and then were administered the Functional Fitness Assessment for Adults over 60 years to assess their present functional fitness level.;The SPSS program was used to compute descriptive statistics, test-score means and standard deviations, "Pearson r" calculations for age-group related percentiles, and single sample t-tests were used to compare population means between age groups. Differences were considered significant if they were at or below an alpha level of .05.;Significant relationships were found between lifetime activity levels and fitness parameters, as were between fitness parameters. These relationships were in usual daily/work activity (present age), leisure time recreational/fitness activity (present age), and competitive sport activity (present age). The most important time in life to influence one's functional fitness was found to be the present. The relationships found between fitness parameters in the current study were; Ponderal index and endurance/flexibility; flexibility and agility/strength; agility and coordination/strength and coordination and strength. Significant differences in means were found between populations according to the age group and gender.;In conclusion the most important time in life to influence one's functional fitness is the present. No matter what your lifetime activity levels were, the older adult can improve his or her fitness level now and enhance their functional abilities. The most influential type of present activity was determined to be leisure time recreational/fitness activity and if an individual's leisure time recreational/fitness activity is high at present age, it was also high throughout their lifetime. The fact that leisure time/recreational activity was high in adolescence and middle age, did not mean it would remain high in present/older age. High activity levels in usual daily/work activity and competitive sport activity during adolescence and middle age significantly drop off after retirement age.