Changes in physical fitness of a home-based physical exercise program in childhood obesity: A quasi-experimental...

Few studies have evaluated the changes in physical fitness (PF) of obese children and adolescents of a physical activity program for the treatment of obesity, and even fewer have explored the modality of home-based physical exercise. The objective of this study is to evaluate the changes in PF and body composition (BC) of a home-based physical exercise for treating childhood obesity. Thirty-three overweight/obese children and adolescents participated for six months in a home-based intervention that combined aerobics and muscular strength exercises. The results were compared, before and after the intervention, for the different PF components (VO2_max, abdominal muscle resistance strength, and lower body explosive strength) and BC (body mass index Z-score (BMI-Z), percentage of body fat, and fat-free mass) variables. A significant reduction was observed in the percentage of body fat (4.7%) and the BMI- Z score (.23), and there was an increase in the fat-free mass of 2.9 kg ( p < .001). In addition, the VO2_max showed a significant increase ( p < .05). The results of the different strength tests also showed significant improvements ( p < .05). Our findings support the effectiveness of this program improving not only BC but also PF. However, our results should be interpreted with caution due to lack of control group.