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Workplace exercise and educational program for improving fitness outcomes related to health in workers: a randomized
Bianca Lima Vilela1, Ana Amélia Benedito Silva, Claudio Andre Barbosa de Lira
1From the Departamento de Fisiologia (Ms Vilela and Dr Andrade), Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Campus São Paulo; Escola de Artes Ciências e Humanidades (Dr Benedito-Silva), Universidade de São Paulo; and Setor de Fisiologia Humana e do Exercício (Dr de Lira), Faculdade de Educação Física e Dança, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil.
Objective:
To investigate the effects of a workplace fitness and education program intervention on physical fitness of workers.
Methods:
Employees from a chemical plant (n = 60) participated in a 4-month longitudinal study. They were randomly distributed in control and experimental groups. The experimental group had 4 months of exercise training in 15-minute sessions. The following evaluations were performed before and after the training period: body composition, localized muscle strength, and flexibility.
Results:
The experimental group showed a significant decrease in body fat (24.7%) and a significant increase in lean mass (6.1%), flexibility (17.9%), sit-up test performance (39.8%), and push-up test performance (29.8%) after the workplace fitness and education program compared with initial values.
Conclusions:
A structured program of physical exercise was effective in improving body composition, abdominal strength, upper limb strength, and flexibility in workers.
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