Impact of Home Fitness Program on Anthropological Characteristics of Physically Active and Physically Inactive People

Main purpose of this work is presentation of a complex program that consists of simple program content focusing towards targeted change of important anthropological characteristics. To achieve the objective, authors created “stay at home” fi tness program with simple exercise content which is adjusted for both trainees based on their fi tness level. The sample is defi ned as a pattern of two trainees. One exerciser is male and physically inactive and the other is female and physically active. The initial and fi nal state of the subjects is determined with 4 tests for assessment of morphological characteristics and 6 tests for assessment of motor abilities. For comparison of the measured results of the initial and fi nal state of the respondents we used the method of calculating the diff erence expressed as a percentage, using the “Microsoft Excel”. After completing treatment, we’ve observed positive changes in all measures for the assessment of anthropological status, for trained and untrained persons.


Introduction
Studies in countries across Europe show low levels of overall physical activity of diff erent populations.Degree of health is one of the main determinants of the level of life quality.Sedentary lifestyle causes reduction of physical activity and thus leads to a threat to public health and normal functioning of one's organs and organ systems ( Hollmann & Hettinger, 2000).
Results of previous studies haves shown that regular, properly planned and programmed physical exercise has a positive impact on high blood pressure (Faggard & Tipton, 1994), blood fat levels (Berg, Frey, Baumstark, Halle, & Keul, 1994) and elevated body mass index ( Mišigoj-Duraković, Heimer, Gredelj, Heimer, & Sorić, 2007).However, regardless of the fact that physical exercise has benefi cial eff ects on human health, there is still a relatively small number of people who continuously engage in recreational physical exercise.
Main purpose of this work is presentation of a complex program that consists of simple program content focusing towards targeted change of important anthropological charac-teristics.To achieve this objective, authors created a "stay at home" fi tness program with simple exercise content which is adjusted for both trainees based on their fi tness level.
Fitness activity can be divided into two groups: health-related fi tness and skill-related fi tness (Oja & Tuxworth, 1995).A Home fi tness program implies a collection of training contents which can be executed in living spaces, such as a house or an apartment.It is suitable for use to exercisers of all fi tness levels.Th is type of program is not intended for exercisers which have not overcome technique of execution of all elements planned for carrying out the program and elementary knowledge about dosage of energy-related components of training load.All contents have to be chosen by a kinesiologist or other qualifi ed individual, such as a physiotherapist or a doctor.Otherwise, exercisers could suff er from an acute or chronic injury which would have a negative impact on performance and motivation of exercisers during training, or could even lead to drastic reduction and even to withdrawal from physical activities during their free time.

Home fi tness program can be executed:
independently  under trainer or other qualifi ed individual surveillance in pair or in a small group with an audio or video projection

Advantages of a home fi tness program
Training execution at home has many advantages of which the most prominent one is accessibility to exercisers of all ages, fi nancial state, gender and fi tness level because it does not demand a specially arranged space of large dimensions, numerous props and equipment which can be expensive and complicated to use.Th at form of training is highly attractive for people who do not have free time, and by training at home they conserve time needed for travelling to and from a fi tness center.In addition, it is suitable for all those that do not prefer crowded places and noise.Also, there are exercisers that feel uncomfortable when training in front of other people or trainers because they are insecure with their appearance or abilities, and familiar space off ers them security.

Disadvantages of a home fi tness program
Primary disadvantage of execution of a home program is training without surveillance of a qualifi ed individual.Because of that reason, this program is not recommended for beginners and people who have not acquired a high level of automated movement structures needed for execution of a certain training.Moreover, people who decide to implement this program need to be acquainted with training load dosage.Th ese processes can be demotivating and negatively infl uence health status of exercisers who are not qualifi ed for proper training execution.

Methods
Th e sample is defi ned as a pattern of two trainees.One exerciser is male and physically inactive and the other is female and physically active.

Physically active exerciser
Date of birth: 28.1.1987.Gender: female Profession classifi cation: belongs to group C and D. Daily routine is characterized by dynamic responsibilities dominated by activities in which walking and weight carrying prevail, and subject belongs to employees with high energy consumption.In addition to everything that was specifi ed, subject was involved in professional sport activities for 15 years until she injured her knee, aft er which she has undergone a surgical procedure (two years before execution of the program).

Physically inactive exerciser
Date of birth: 28.1.1987Gender: male Profession classifi cation: belongs to group A and B. Daily routine is characterized by static responsibilities dominated by standing and sitting positions and those positions also prevail during his free time.Subject was never involved in sports, or any other type of continuous, organized recreational physical activity, and was never a participant of a fi tness program.

Description of executed fi tness program
Fitness in not a sport, recreation or rehabilitation; fi tness is a specifi c approach to a healthy lifestyle through sport, recreation and rehabilitation, which is realized with physical activities, rest and nutrition, considering gender, age, fi tness and other characteristics ( Nićin, 2003;custom translation).
Home fi tness program contains simple program contents which are available and adapted to exercisers and their diff erent levels of adoption of training knowledge, diff erent levels of functional and motor abilities and completely diff erent requirements on their workplace.
Duration of training process is in a period of two months, that is, nine weeks (Table 1).It is important to emphasize that selection of training contents and training load is focused on alteration of morphological characteristics of exercisers, and on development of specifi c motor abilities, primarily because of eff ects on health, and improvement of level of working abilities.
Primary goal of the program is reduction of subcutaneous fatty tissue and increase of power, primarily core muscles.Both exercisers have conducted equal program contents with adapted absolute load in relation to individual characteristics and fi tness level, but with approximately equal relative load during the whole period.
Beside subcutaneous fatty tissue reduction, program is focused on development of power of bigger muscle groups in arms and shoulder region, core muscles and lower extremity muscles, and improvement of functional abilities.
Th is complex program consists of simple movement structures, aerobics dance steps, strength exercises with exercisers own weight, strength exercises with a prop (one weight of 4 kilograms, two dumbbells of 1 kilogram, wheel with handles, exercise mat), stretching and muscle relaxation exercises.
For purposes of main A and B part in which circular methodical form was conducted, a program that generates a sound every 30 seconds with which a change of contents during exercise is announced was used.Besides parts of the program where aerobics steps were used, where music is a mandatory segment (120-130 bpm), it is advisable to use music through the whole training because it has a positive eff ect on motivation of exerciser and helps in rhythmic execution of exercises.

Duration of program
As mentioned before, home fi tness program for achieving eff ects occurs in a period of two months (Table 1 ("plank")-for evaluation of static strength of muscles responsible for torso stabilization  In kneeling position, frontally, rolling of wheel with handles away and towards self on the fl oor until exhaustion -for evaluation of repetitive strength of muscles responsible for torso stabilization For comparison of measured results of initial and fi nal state of the respondents we used the method of calculating the diff erence expressed as a percentage, using "Microsoft Excel".

Results
Besides the noticeable improvement in execution of all tests aft er the program has fi nished, trainees have advanced the most in tests which required a certain type of strength which is not specifi c for their professions (Table 2).
Physically active exerciser had a less noticeable improvement in tests 1 (push-ups/15 sec) and 6 (lying trunk extension), because she falls into a group of dynamic professions where weight carrying is represented, and those topological regions have a certain level of strength already on a higher level.
Physically inactive exerciser had a less noticeable improvement in the test for evaluation of strength of lower extremities/ test No. 5 (wall squat), because it falls into a group of static professions where standing is a dominant activity.
Table 3 displays diff erences of individual and fi nal testing expressed with a percentage which displays how much subjects have advanced in individual motor tests.Results show that subjects have achieved advancement in execution of all tests for strength evaluation which were used for evaluation of state of subjects in this paper.
Morphological characteristics were not displayed in percentages, because almost all scales of measurement and measurement units are equal, so the advancement of subjects can be noticed with inspection of initial and fi nal state in Table 2.

Discussion
Aft er completing the treatment, positive changes have been observed in all measures used for assessment of anthropological status, for trained and untrained subjects.
Changes are mainly related to decrease in percentage of body fat, volume of specifi c body parts and to improve results in certain tests for physical abilities of physically active or inactive trainee to primarily improve their health, and secondly to get their training abilities to higher levels of performance.
In physically active trainees, whose normal day is dominated by physical activity (work in the fi tness center) a very small progress of 12.5% in development of power of arms and shoulders (test: number of push-ups in 15 seconds) was measured, while with physically inactive trainees, ones with professions with no physical activity, impressive improvement of 82% compared to the initial state was measured.Th en, in evaluation of static strength of lower extremities (endurance in squat position against the wall) with physically inactive trainees, who when carrying out daily duties are mostly in standing position, an improvement of 497% was measured, which is much lower than in physically active exercisers who achieved improvement of 311%.Home fi tness program has achieved visible eff ects that show improvement of the status of active and inactive trainees.
Applying the planned content of physical exercise has shown improvement in power of diff erent topological regions that are essential for daily performance of interest, especially for those who were less active on a daily basis.
Because of diffi cult everyday obligations, both trainees felt tiredness, and oft en also pain in diff erent areas of body, caused by peculiarities of their professions.Aft er the conducted exercise program at home, pain has disappeared, and discomfort and tiredness have gradually decreased.Achieved eff ects of conducted training process confi rm that it is necessary to exercise in free time to increase operational capabilities and improve health status for the purpose of performing work related obligations more easily, and therefore self-content feeling.Noticeable eff ects which indicate improvement of condition of active and inactive subject have been achieved with the home fi tness program.Improvement in various topological regions which are important for everyday performance in professions has been achieved with the use of program contents, especially for improvement of those topological regions which are less active during everyday obligations.Results have also shown that subcutaneous fatty tissue has been successfully reduced in both subjects, which in overall shows effi ciency of the "Home fi tness program", and that the goal of this paper is satisfi ed and realized.
). Overall number of days planned for actualizing the program is 61 days.Number of training days and days needed for conducting diagnostics of condition within that period is 42 days (39+3), and 19 days of rest.Number of training days per week gradually increases, with fi rst week having 3 training days, from second to sixth week 5 training days are conducted, and during the last week, 6 training days are conducted.

Table 1 .
Display of training days per week and in total

Table 2 .
Display of initial, transit and fi nal state of both subjects

Table 3 .
Display of acquired results of motor tests expressed in percentages