An 8-week randomized controlled trial on the effects of brisk walking, and brisk walking with abdominal electrical muscle stimulation on anthropometric, body composition, and self-perception measures in sedentary adult women

A ANDERSON, Marie Murphy, E MURTAGH, A NEVILL

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this randomized controlled trial was to examine the effects of an 8-week program of regular brisk walking, regular brisk walking with abdominal electrical muscle stimulation (EMS), and no exercise on hierarchical self-perceptions, and consider the mediating role of changes in anthropometric measures and body composition.Methods: Thirty-seven sedentary healthy women (mean age ¼ 38.1; SD ¼ 9.3) provided written informed consent and participated in baseline testing on a range of anthropometric, body composition, and hierarchical self-perception measures. Subsequently participants were randomly assigned to an 8-week program of walking (n ¼ 13), walking+EMS (n ¼ 14), or a control (n ¼ 10) condition. At 8 weeks anthropometric, body composition and self-perception measures were re-assessed.Results: In comparison with the control group, both walking groups had significant reductions in a number of anthropometric measures and improvements in self-perception measures. The improvements on both anthropometric measures and self-perceptions were greater for the walking+EMS condition, which indicated that changes in self-perception might be mediated by body changes. However, an assessment of the mediation effect between changes in anthropometric measures and self-perception changes did not support this finding.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)437-451
JournalPsychology of Sport and Exercise
Volume7
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 2006

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'An 8-week randomized controlled trial on the effects of brisk walking, and brisk walking with abdominal electrical muscle stimulation on anthropometric, body composition, and self-perception measures in sedentary adult women'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this