Abstract

The present study identified what kinds of activities Japanese adults perceived as activities for muscular fitness improvement and examined the relationship between age and the perception about such activities. The sample was 1,636 Japanese adults (40.2±12.2years) collected from the registrants of a Japanese social research company. The study design was cross-sectional study using an internet questionnaire. The respondents selected all activities which they perceived as activities for muscular fitness improvement from 14 activities: push-ups, sit-ups, cleaning room, swimming, playing with child, going up and down stairs and slope, yoga, machines exercise, dumbbells exercise, stretching exercise, squat, jogging, rubber bands and tubes exercise, and walking. A chi-square test was utilized for examining the association between the perception and age groups. More than half of respondents treated sit-ups (82.1%), push-ups (72.3%), dumbbells exercise (66.4%), machines exercise (62.1%), squat (58.2%), rubber bands and tubes exercise (55.7%), and swimming (55.6%) as activities for muscular fitness improvement. On the other hand, 30-49% of them also perceived going up and down stairs and slope (46.7%), walking (32.5%), stretching exercise (31.7%), and jogging (30.4%) asactivities for muscular fitness improvement. Compared with younger people, older people were more likely to perceive walking and going up and down stairs and slopes as activities for muscular fitness improvement (p<0.05). It was concluded that the perception of activities for muscular fitness improvement in Japanese adults would be different from the activities for muscular fitness improvement recommended by current guidelines of the American College of Sports Medicine and the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.