Agility Training to Integratively Promote Neuromuscular, Cognitive, Cardiovascular and Psychosocial Function in Healthy Older Adults: A Study Protocol of a One-Year Randomized-Controlled Trial

Abstract

Exercise training effectively mitigates aging-induced health and fitness impairments. Traditional training recommendations for the elderly focus separately on relevant physiological fitness domains, such as balance, flexibility, strength and endurance. Thus, a more holistic and functional training framework is needed. The proposed agility training concept integratively tackles spatial orientation, stop and go, balance and strength. The presented protocol aims at introducing a two-armed, one-year randomized controlled trial, evaluating the effects of this concept on neuromuscular, cardiovascular, cognitive and psychosocial health outcomes in healthy older adults. Eighty-five participants were enrolled in this ongoing trial. Seventy-nine participants completed baseline testing and were block-randomized to the agility training group or the inactive control group. All participants undergo pre- and post-testing with interim assessment after six months. The intervention group currently receives supervised, group-based agility training twice a week over one year, with progressively demanding perceptual, cognitive and physical exercises. Knee extension strength, reactive balance, dual task gait speed and the Agility Challenge for the Elderly (ACE) serve as primary endpoints and neuromuscular, cognitive, cardiovascular, and psychosocial meassures serve as surrogate secondary outcomes. Our protocol promotes a comprehensive exercise training concept for older adults, that might facilitate stakeholders in health and exercise to stimulate relevant health outcomes without relying on excessively time-consuming physical activity recommendations.

The effect of six weeks CoBAgi training on coordination, dynamic balance & agility of adolescent handball players

“…After all, it shows integration of neuromuscular system through neural adaptation understand such resistance as habit and thus individual able to execute motor task effectively. As suggested, intervention training with agility would enhanced neuromuscular performance as well as cognitive functioning [22].…”

“…Favourable adaptations on endurance, muscle power, balance and strength [22] may experience by adolescent handball players. This improve their ability to be responsive such change position, direction of movement and reaction to a stimulus with speed and efficiently.…”

“…These would be successful through specific learning process which imposed specificity such CoBAgi training. Responsiveness is the main part in agility and its associated with stop-and-go patterns, accelerations, decelerations, eccentric loads, changes of direction (cutting manoeuvres), and combined with demanding spatial orientation tasks [22]. Based on these facts, we may assume a successful agility requires integration of ability to react on stimulus, ability to change velocity, ability to change direction and perceptual decision making.…”

Continuous Compared to Accumulated Walking-Training on Physical Function and Health-Related Quality of Life in Sedentary Older Persons

“…The most time spent in a sedentary behavior may explain this result [59]. Agility usually comprises accelerations, decelerations, stop-and-go patterns, changes of direction (cutting maneuvers), and eccentric loads [60]. Therefore, it could be hypothesized that older adults who break sedentary behaviors more frequently could have slight benefits in this variable not only related to exercise training, but due to displacement and higher motor-time associated with the assistance to the training place.…”

Impact of Aquatic-Based Physical Exercise Programs on Risk Markers of Cardiometabolic Diseases in Older People: A Study Protocol for Randomized-Controlled Trials

“…Different studies have been conducted recently to verify the efficacy of various physical exercise programs (aerobic, muscular strength and combined) on variables related to these pathologies. Such studies have analyzed the impact of exercise on cognition, cardiovascular, metabolic, immunological, functional and mental levels [15][16][17][18]. However, most of these studies have focused on land-based exercise and have not involved specific aquatic exercise programs, which are popular and successful among older participants.…”