Relationship of walking ability to health-related fitness
in milddle-aged and elderly subjects
Shizuo KATAMOTO, Junichiro AOKI and Katsuhiro OIKAWA
The present study investigated walking ability/health-related fitness relationship and habitual
physical activity in middle-aged and elderly subjects to consider a method of improving their
physical fitness and indepedence. The subjects were 37 women aged from 41 to 65 years old and 13
men aged from 60 to 65 years old. Each subjects was asked to conduct a maximal 10 m-walking test
and to undergo five physical fitness tests (%fat, sit-ups, standing trunk flexion, side step, and
vertical jump)and activity questionnaires. In women subjects, %fat, sit-ups and vertical jump
showed no significant correlation with step length and walking speed. However, therewere correla
tions of side step to walking speed (r=0.37, p<0.05) , and standing trunk flexion to step length
(r=0.49, p<0.01) and walking speed (r=0.45, p<0.01) . More than 80% of subjects participated
in habitual physical activities for health promotion. Although the main aim of habitual physical
activities were weight control and acquiring the ability to move the body easily, the percentage
citing protection against disease in women increased with aging from 20% in the fifth decade to 50%
in the seventh decade. Sixty to 82% of subjects in both genders performed some walking exereise,
but they did not participate in running or jogging. From these results, it was suggested that in
middle-aged and elderly subjects, 1) flexibility a health-related fitness parameter that might be
correlated with walking ability and would play a role in acquiring and maintaining walking ability,
and 2) when subjects perform exercise for their health promotion, they prefer a exercise mode such
as a walking which may be feasible for everyone.
