DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW-NORMAL EXERCISE PROGRAM TO ENHANCE HEALTH – RELATED PHYSICAL FITNESS OF THE WORKING AGE

Abstract

The research aimed 1) to develop of new – normal exercise program to enhance health - related physical fitness of the working age, 2) to study effects of a new – normal exercise program to enhance health - related physical fitness of the working age. There are 4 steps in the research process as follow: 1) to study status, problems and demands about exercise among working age people, 2) to develop a new – normal exercise program, 3) to test the quality of the new – normal exercise program, and 4) to study effects of the new – normal exercise program. Research participants include 60 working age volunteers who work from home. Simple random sampling through a random method was used to select the sample into 30 persons in the experimental group and 30 persons in the control group. The experiment was performed for 8 weeks, 3 days per week, 30-45 minutes per day. Research instruments consist of 1) an exercise program and 2) physical fitness test for working age. Data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, and t-test. The statistical significance level was set at 0.05.

            The research results indicated as follow: 

            1) The exercise program consists of 1.1) 4 steps of exercise, i.e. (1) dynamic stretching, (2) cardiorespiratory endurance development, (3) weight training, and (4) stretching, 1.2) principles of exercise are composed of frequency of exercise; 3 times a week, (2) intensity of exercise is divided into 4 phases, namely, dynamic stretching to achieve 50-60% of the maximum heart rate and slight tension within the muscles, cardiorespiratory endurance development to achieve 60-70% of the maximum heart rate, weight training should be performed 8-12 times, and stretching to achieve slight tension within the muscles, (3) the duration of exercise; 30-45 minutes per time, and (4) 4 types of exercise, i.e. dynamic stretching, aerobic exercise, weight training, and muscle stretching.

            2) Effects of exercise indicated that the experimental group had physical fitness associated with their health in terms of muscle strength and endurance, cardiorespiratory endurance, and flexibility after the experiment better than before the experiment with the statistical significance level of 0.05. After the experiment, the experimental group had better physical fitness associated with their health in terms of muscle strength and endurance, cardiorespiratory, and flexibility than the control group with the statistical significance level of 0.05.