Lifestyle and structured exercise programmes increased physical activity and improved cardiorespiratory fitness
Question Are lifestyle physical activity programmes as effective as structured exercise programmes for improving physical activity, cardiorespiratory fitness, and risk factors in healthy, sedentary adults?
Design
24 month randomised, single blind (outcome assessor), controlled trial.
Setting
An outpatient centre in Dallas, Texas, USA.
Participants
237 healthy, sedentary adults (mean age 46 y, 50% women) who lived or worked within 16 km of the centre. Exclusion criteria were history of myocardial infarction, stroke, type 1 diabetes mellitus, osteoporosis, or osteoarthritis; >140% of ideal body weight; plans to move from area or become pregnant; consumption of ≥3 drinks of alcohol each day; exercising ≥3 days each week for ≥20 minutes; hypertension; and use of medication that could impair exercise performance. 80% were included in the final analysis.
Intervention
Both groups received 6 months of intensive training, 18 months of maintenance training, …
