How to develop a group curriculum: developing an exercise programme for overweight adults

This paper reports on work to develop introductory exercise courses for sedentary, moderately overweight adults. The aim is to offer a safe and motivating programme of physical exercise and, through experiential learning, to encourage and facilitate increased physical activity. The core of the programme is a course of 10-20 weekly exercise classes. The classes include a variety of physical exercises adapted to the special needs of overweight adults (BMI 28-34 kg/m2) and a number of health-related fitness tests. We outline the underlying principles of the exercise courses, their structure and contents, the guidelines of instruction, and the use of formative evaluation. In addition, we report on the implementation of five weight-reduction courses and six exercise courses involving a total of 209 participants. A fairly high level of programme acceptability (in terms of attendance rates and personal commitment) and programme feasibility (in terms of acceptability, changes in personal orientation towards health and weight reduction, and satisfaction among participants) was achieved.