Pedometers and aerobic capacity: evaluating an elementary after-school running program.
Childhood obesity affects 1 of every 6 youth in the United States. One contributing factor to this statistic is a lack of physical activity (PA). Demands related to accountability which are placed on educators to demonstrate academic achievement often result in resistance to allocating time during the school day for PA. One possible solution is to consider utilizing time after school to integrate PA programs. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of a 12-week after-school pedometer-focused PA program on aerobic capacity and to examine the relationship between step count and aerobic capacity in elementary school aged children. A group of elementary students (n = 24; 9.5 ± 0.9 years) participated in a 12-week pedometer-focused PA program that included pretraining and posttraining fitness testing via the 20-meter version of the PACER test. Paired sample t-tests revealed significant differences between the pretest (M = 21.0 laps, SD = 9.9) and posttest (M = 25.2 laps, SD = 12.2) scores (t = 4.04, P ≤ 0.001). A Pearson correlation revealed no significant relationship between individual step count and the difference between PACER pre- and posttest (r = 0.318, P = 0.130). The program improved aerobic capacity, but an increase in pedometer-calculated step count was not a predictor.
School of Physical Education, Sport, and Exercise Science, HP 360P, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47304, USA.
Elizabeth
E
Wanless
School of Physical Education, Sport, and Exercise Science, HP 360P, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47304, USA.
Lawrence W
0000-0002-9941-5665
LW
Judge
School of Physical Education, Sport, and Exercise Science, HP 360P, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47304, USA.
Shannon T
ST
Dieringer
School of Kinesiology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA 70504, USA.
David
D
Bellar
School of Physical Education, Sport, and Exercise Science, HP 360P, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47304, USA.
James
0000-0001-6236-2013
J
Johnson
School of Physical Education, Sport, and Exercise Science, HP 360P, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47304, USA.
Sheli
S
Plummer
D056044:Actigraphy / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods; D017079:Exercise Tolerance / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000379:methods; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000502:physiology*; D064797:Physical Conditioning, Human / Q000379:methods*; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012420:Running / Q000502:physiology*; D012572:School Health Services; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity