european college of sport science

Friday, June 26th, 2009
water exercise program can be enhanced with Cr supplementation in older people. The purpose of this study was to investigate the
effects of 12-week water exercise program (WEP) with Cr supplementation on health-related fitness in older adults.
Methods: Sixteen elderly men and women (age 68.1±5.1yr), free of cardiorespiratory and nuerological diseases, gave informed consent
to participate as volunteers for this study. Subjects were randomly assigned in a double-blind design to either a Cr supplementation
group (CRE, n=8) or a placebo group (PLA, n=8). The CRE ingested 3-g doses of Cr monohydrate (Creapure, AlzChem Trostberg GmbH,
Germany) per day for 3 months, whereas the PLA ingested the same dosage of lactose. Before (pre-) and after (post-) the supplementation
period, the following physical characteristics were measured; chair stand (CS), arm curl (AC), sit-up (SU), up & go (UG), sit & reach (SR),
and 6-min walk (6-MW). In addition, body composition was estimated using a bioelectrical impedance method (InBody 3.2, Biospace,
Japan). After the first test, all subjects completed 12-week WEP (70min./d, 3times/week, total 36 sessions). This WEP consisted of 20 min.
of warm-up and stretching, 30 min. of endurance-type exercise (walking and dancing), 10 min. of resistance exercise, and 10 min. of
cooling down exercise. During the WEP, heart rate was monitored continuously for all subjects using a heart rate monitor (S610i, Polar,
Finland). In addition, all exercise session was led by trained fitness instructors and semi-supervised by the researchers.
Results: In both groups, body weight, fat, %fat, and fat free mass were not significantly changed after 12-week WEP. On the other hand,
improvements were observed in CS, AC, SU, UG, SR, and 6-MW in both groups after 12-week WEP (P