OBJECTIVES: The health of adults has been constantly declining over the last few decades, due to major sources of stress in daily life, including physical inactivity, poor diet, and low nutritional quality. Aim of the study was to demonstrate the benefits of a 12-week functional physical activity program on the health status of the adult population.

METHODS: Two groups (participants in a 12-week functional exercise program (n=10) and a control group (n=10) with a sedentary lifestyle) participated in our study. The results of three measurements (pre-, during the program, post measurements) body mass composition, circumferences, blood pressure, pulse, glucose, trunk stability, dynamic stability (Y-Balance Tests, YBT), and the data from the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) quality of life questionnaire completed at the beginning and end of the study provided the basis for the conclusions.

RESULTS: The group that participated in the exercise program showed a clearly greater improvement in muscle mass and body fat percentage while the control group muscle mass percentage decreased (p=0.06). For the group participating in the exercise program, there was a significant decrease in waist circumference (p=0.04), a significant decrease in blood glucose (p=0.01) between the first and last measurements, while a significant decrease in heart rate (p=0.02) was observed between the second and third measurements. Significant improvements were observed for YBT on the anterior left side (p<0.01), right side (p=0.004) for lower extremity, and left side (p=0.001), right side (p=0.014), inferolateral right side between the second and third measurement (p=0.03) for the upper extremity in experimental group. For the quality-of-life questionnaire, the mean scores for 5 of the 8 dimensions improved.

CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study show that most of the scores improved in a positive direction for the group participating in the physical activity program.