Effects of a 30-Day Fitness Challenge on Body Composition and Health Markers in Sedentary Women
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Numerous studies have documented the value of exercise in controlled clinical trials. However, few large scale studies have evaluated the effects of initiation of resistance-training programs. PURPOSE: To evaluate the impact of a 30-day international fitness intervention on fitness and health behaviors in a large-scale population. METHODS: 72,870 sedentary women (44.0 ± 13 yrs, 83.3 ± 19.7 kg, 31.9 ± 7 kg/m2 BMI, 37.9 ± 7% fat) responding to advertisements for a 30-day fitness challenge at Curves® clubs in the United States and Canada volunteered to participate in this study. Subjects gave online consent and then completed exercise, food frequency, and physical activity-related questionnaires. In addition, baseline body composition, obtained using a handheld bioelectrical impedance analyzer (BIA), blood pressure, and circumference measurements were taken by trained personnel. Participants followed the Curves 30-min circuit training program 3 d/wk. Each circuit-style workout consisted of 14 hydraulic resistance-exercises that targeted opposing muscle groups in a concentric-only fashion. Subjects performed the resistance-exercise for 30-sec followed by performing floor-based callisthenic (e.g. walking/skipping in place, arm circles, etc.) exercises for a 30-sec time period in an effort to maintain heart rate between 60% and 85% of age-predicted maximum heart rate. Participants were also encouraged to walk on non-training days and make positive changes in their diet. After 4-wks, subjects repeated questionnaires and had post-measurements recorded. Data were analyzed by dependent T-tests and are presented as mean ± SD changes from baseline. RESULTS: Post-study results were obtained on 34,677 participants. Participants experienced significant (p < 0.05) decreases in body weight (−0.86 ± 2.2 kg, −1.1%; n = 34,667), percent fat (−0.7 ± 2.5%, −1.9%; n = 34,349), total centimeters (−7.62 ± 17.78 cm, −1.5%; n = 33,899), BMI (−0.47 ± 2.7 kg/m2, −1.5%; n = 12,167), systolic BP (−2.6 ± 12.5 mm Hg, −2.1%; n = 11,767), and diastolic BP (−2.3 ± 9.0 mm Hg, −2.9%; n = 11,711), as well as an increase in fat-free weight (0.05kg ± 2.4 kg, 0.1%; n = 34,312). Participants also reported significantly less (p<0.05) weekly (−10%) and monthly (−17%) alcohol consumption, sugar intake (−24%), and fat intake (−22%) with greater calcium intake (5.3%), and fiber intake (6.8%). CONCLUSIONS: Significant improvements in body composition, markers of health, and positive health behaviors can be achieved through short-term circuit training fitness initiatives. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Short-term circuit-training programs can be effectively used to promote positive changes in fitness and attitudes about health. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: This study was supported by Curves International, Waco TX and Avon Inc., New York NY.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".