Beyond epidemiology: field studies and the physiology laboratory as the whole world

Abstract

There is no exercise training regimen broadly available in the field to increase physical fitness and prevent lifestyle-related diseases in middle-aged and older people. We have developed interval walking training (IWT) repeating five or more sets of 3 min fast walking at ≥70% peak aerobic capacity for walking (wV O 2 peak ) per day with intervening 3 min slow walking at 40% wV O 2 peak , for ≥4 days week −1 , for ≥5 months. Moreover, to determine wV O 2 peak in individuals and also to measure their energy expenditure even while incline walking, we have developed a portable calorimeter. Further, to instruct subjects on IWT even if they live remotely from the trainers, we have developed e-Health Promotion System. This transfers individual energy expenditure during IWT stored on the meter to a central server through the internet; it sends back the achievement to individuals along with advice generated automatically by the sever according to a database on ≥4000 subjects. Where we found that 5 months of IWT increased physical fitness and improved the indices of lifestyle-related diseases by 10-20% on average. Since our system is run at low cost with fewer staff for more subjects, it enables us to develop exercise prescriptions appropriate for individuals.

Energy expenditure during 2-day trail walking in the mountains (2,857 m) and the effects of amino acid supplementation in older men and women

“…Twentyone healthy volunteers were recruited from among participants in a health promotion program for middle-aged and elderly people in Matsumoto, called the Jukunen Taiikudaigaku Project (Morikawa et al 2011;Nemoto et al 2007;Nose et al 2009), who had performed interval walking training to repeat C5 sets of 3 min low-intensity walking at *40% _ VO 2peak for walking followed by 3 min high-intensity walking at C70%, but \85% _ VO 2peak , C4 days per week, for C12 months before participating in the present study. After receiving their informed consent, they were randomly divided into two groups according to supplements given during mountain climbing: a placebo group (PL, n = 11, male/female = 6/5) and an amino acid group (AA, n = 10, male/female = 6/4).…”

Vasopressin V1a receptor gene and voluntary exercise: Insights from humans and animal models

“…Our training program is comprised of interval walking training (IWT) programmed according to individual peak aerobic capacity for walking (V ・ O2peak), and an IT network system that tracks exercise intensity and energy expenditure during training and provides individual feedback [5][6][7] . We reported previously that adherence to IWT for 5 months was very high (95%) and was accompanied by a ~15% increase in V ・ O2peak and a ~20% decrease in LSD risk factors 8) , equivalent to the outcome of facility-based training for the same period of time 9) .…”

“…These training programs are costly and limit adherence 4,5) . To solve these problems, we recently developed a broadly available, remotely supervised exercise training system for middle-aged and older people 5) . In this review, we describe the adherence to and effects of our long-term training program, as well as the factors affecting adherence.…”

Interval Walking Training for Middle-Aged and Older People: Methods and Evidence

“…The squares on the circle of Internet indicate the fire-wall function. The sloid arrows indicate online communications between users and the sever through internet and the dotted arrows indicate offline communications [11]. accelerometry and by near infrared ear pick up method (JD Mate, Kissei Comtec, Matsumoto), respectively, and the values for the last 30 sec of fast walking are averaged and adopted asVO 2peak and peak heart rate (HR peak ) for walking.…”