Dejan Magoc, Department of Health Studies, Eastern Illinois University, Tanja Magoc, Ph.D., Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of Maryland, Joe Tomaka, Ph.D., Department of Public Health, University of Texas at El Paso
Abstract
The aim of the study was to compare the cardio-respiratory responses of adult women,
which participated in aerobics exercising and traditional dancing programs. A total of 30 women,
aged 45±9,82 yrs, were participated in the study and divided in four groups according to their
involvement in the intervention programs. The cardio respiratory endurance of the participants
was evaluated by the use of 20m shuttle-run multistage fitness test (Tokmakidis,1992) and the
heart rate was recorded by the use of a portable heart rate tester (Polar Electron Sport tester 810).
The analysis of the data showed that there were no statistically significant differences concerning
the type of exercise (p>.05), but there were statistically significant differences between initial
and final measurements both in Greek traditional dancing and in aerobics program for both
experimental groups (p<.05). The above results shows that the participation in Greek traditional
dancing programs causes cardio respiratory responses similar to an aerobics program and it can
be used as an alternative type of exercise.
Keywords: Greek traditional dancing, aerobics, aerobic capacity
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