Physiological adaptations observed in sedentary and trained individuals following a 12-week low impact aerobic dance exercise program

The purpose of this study was to evaluate changes in selected physical fitness components following a structured 12-week low impact aerobic dance exercise program. The subjects were classified as sedentary (n=11) or trained (n=8) based on exercise history. Nineteen subjects, four men and 15 women, successfully met the criteria for data analysis. The requirements included: 1) a minimum of 85% total participation, 2) no additional participation in any type of aerobic exercise and 3) no drastic change in dietary habits. The low impact aerobic dance sessions met four times a week, ranging from 20 to 30 minutes of aerobic conditioning at a prescribed exercise intensity of 75 to 85% of maximum heart rate reserve. Comparison of group training responses were made with the Paired Student t-test. Between group comparisons were made using a t-test for independent groups. For both comparisons, the alpha level was set at p