Changes in physical fitness in moderately fit adults with and without the use of exercise telemetry monitors

One of the goals of exercise prescription is the use of easily understandable physical activities to improve physical fitness. Lack of study designs investigating self-administered programs utilizing exercise telemetry monitors (ETM) compared to a no exercise telemetry monitors (NETM) guided exercise programs exist. The aim of the study was to determine whether the ETM programs improve physical fitness more than NETM programs and to measure differences between males and females. Fifty-one adults were randomly divided into either the ETM group (n = 34, age = 37.9 +/- 5.0 years, BMI = 24.6 +/- 3.0, VO(2) = 37.9 +/- 7.7 ml kg(-1) min(-1)) or the NETM group (n = 27, age = 39.6 +/- 5.5 years, BMI = 24.5 +/- 4.2, VO(2) = 40.8 +/- 6.5 ml kg(-1) min(-1)). All subjects completed a maximal incremental treadmill test to determine their submaximal and maximal running performance, oxygen uptake (VO(2)peak, VO(2-AT), VO(2-70%), km h(-1) peak, km h(-1) (AT), km h(-1) (70%)) before and after 10 weeks of an unsupervised exercise program. All exercise sessions for ETM and NETM groups were individually recorded and analyzed. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed that running performance at anaerobic threshold increased significantly in ETM vs. NETM groups (P