The effects of certain fitness programmes upon the cardio-vascular and muscular status of business men

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a circuit training and a calisthenics programme on the cardio-vascular and muscular strength of business men. Sixty-three business men from the Vancouver Central YMCA and the British Columbia Electric Company were used as subjects. Forty-two subjects from the YMCA were equated into two experimental groups, while twenty-one British Columbia Electric employees acted as a control group. Following the initial tests, Experimental Group I underwent a programme of calisthenics while Experimental Group II took part in a programme of circuit training and the Control Group was restricted from physical activity. At the end of the eight week period, the three groups were retested in the same manner. Both Experimental Group I and Experimental Group II averaged gains in performance that were statistically significant for the cardio-vascular and muscular strength tests. No statistically significant gains were obtained for the Control Group. The improvement of Experimental Group I significantly exceeded the improvement of the Control Group, but did not significantly exceed the improvement of Experimental Group II in the muscular strength test. The improvement of Experimental Group II significantly exceeded the improvement of the Control Group but did not significantly exceed the improvement of Experimental Group I in the muscular strength test. There was no statistically significant improvement between the experimental groups in the cardio-vascular test. It was concluded that both the calisthenics and the circuit training programme, as used in this study, are effective methods of improving the cardio-vascular and muscular status of business men.Education, Faculty ofCurriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department ofGraduat