Get Fit Together

30 Week Group Fitness

TrialDr Jinger Gottschall

The Pennsylvania State University Social Science Research Institute, Neuromotion Laboratory, and The North Club

The Big Questions

Does our stuff work?

Can we get sedentary

people successfully

into group fitness?

How can we do

better?

30% Obesity – 70 % Overweight

More than 62% of adults under 40 years of age are

not regularly physically active and 20% are not

active at all.

Recommendations

The National Institutes of Health, Surgeon General,

American Heart Association, Center for Disease

Control, and American College of Sports Medicine have

ALL produced position stands for recommended

exercise.

60 minutes

3-5 days per wk

8-10 exercises

2 days per wk

60 minutes

1 day per wk

The Research Question

Can Les Mills Group Fitness products satisfy these recommendations and make significant changes to people’s health??

The Participants

The Program

• 6 week familiarisation protocol

• 12-weeks of 3 cardio, 2 pump, and 1 flow

• 12-weeks of 4 cardio, 2 pump, and 1 flow

• (cardio = attack, combat, RPM, or step)

The Tests: VO2

Walking Tests

Economy

Maximal Oxygen Consumption

The Tests: Blood Draws

Triglycerides

Glucose

Cholesterol

The Tests: IDXA

Bone Density

Fat and Lean Percentages

The Tests: Psych Factors

Baseline: Demographics, Exercise Habits, Self

Efficacy, Confidence, Physical Activity Beliefs

Daily: Rate of Perceived Exertion, Interest in Class,

Motivation by Instructor, Group Dynamics

Weekly: Past Week Feelings, Future Week Plan

The Results

The Results

The Results

The Results

The Results

The Results

The Results

The Results

The Results: Star Performer

So what does that mean??

As a result of 30 weeks of

training we can estimate

that we have delayed the

onset of cardio vascular

disease by 3.6 years.

The Results: Compliance

98.8% Compliance!!!!Average for this type of study

63 – 88%

20 of the 25 participants NEVER missed a workout.

The Familiarisation Protocol

wk Cardio (per wk) BodyPump (per wk) BodyFlow (per week)

1 20 minutes (1x20 min) 20 minutes (Tracks 1-4) 10 minutes (Tracks 1-2)

2 40 minutes (2x20 min) 30 minutes (Tracks 1-6) 20 minutes (Tracks 1-4)

3 60 minutes (2x30 min) 50 minutes (Tracks 1-6,

Tracks 1-4)25 minutes (Tracks 1-5)

490 minutes (2x35, 1x20

min)

60 minutes (Full Class:

Tracks 1-10)40 minutes (Tracks 1-7)

5120 minutes (2x50, 1x20

min)

80 minutes (Full Class,

Tracks 1-4)60 minutes (Full Class)

6150 minutes (2x60, 1x30

min)

100 minutes (Full Class,

Tracks 1-7)60 minutes (Full Class)

The Results: Enjoyment

The Results: Self Conscious

Results: Execution

Flow – Optimal Performance

Csikszentmihalyi

Low

SkillHigh

Challenge

Low

High

FL

O

W

Anxiety

Boredom

The Big Questions

Does our stuff work??

Can we get sedentary people successfully into

group fitness??

How can we do better??

Future Research

•A larger study including controls and diet.

•A cohort study looking at the long term effects

of a similar intervention.

•The effects of HIIT on the GFT group.