Abstract

Data clearly show that, when individuals comply with exercise programmes, fitness is enhanced. An issue not understood is the role of fitness and testing on exercise compliance. The NASA/Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, has sponsored 2 separate fitness programmes for executives and employees over a 15-year period. The underlying purpose of the NASA/JSC programmes has been health promotion, with particular emphasis on the reduction of obesity. An element common to both programmes was periodic fitness testing. Longitudinal appraisals, investigating the influence of periodic testing in compliance and changes in fitness, were published for each programme (Owen et al. 1980; Wier et al. 1989). This paper has 2 general purposes. The first is to summarise the results of the 2 NASA/JSC retrospective studies. Results of these studies provided the foundation for a follow-up study, which was designed to develop risk profiles predicting the level and time-course of compliance from baseline data. Quite simply, the second purpose was to determine if those most likely to maintain or discontinue the exercise practice could be identified at enrolment. Verf.-Referat