Investigation of the effects of dance-based aerobic exercise on body composition, aerobic capacity, balance and reaction in women with above body mass index

With the decrease in physical activity level with the pandemic (COVID-19), increased body fat percentage, muscle and skeletal problems, decreased flexibility, tense muscles, a weak body, some postural disorders and various diseases have occurred. With the end of the quarantine and isolation process, gyms were opened. Exercise is vital for a healthy life. Various dance-based exercises are practiced as group lessons in gyms both in our country and around the world. For this purpose, it was aimed to examine the effects of modified dance-based exercise on body composition, aerobic capacity, balance and reaction in sedentary women. Women between the ages of 35-55 who participated in the study with a body mass index above normal were randomized and divided into two groups as experimental and control groups. In each session, a dance based aerobic exercise program was applied to the experimental group, including 10 minutes of warm-up exercise, 30 minutes of dance-based aerobic exercise, 10 minutes of cool-down and flexibility exercises, 3 days a week, for 8 weeks. Body composition, aerobic capacity, balance and reaction test values of the participants were recorded as pretest and posttest. Data analysis SPSS 24 program was used in the study. Shapiro-Wilks and Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests were applied to measure the normality levels of the data. Two Way Repeated Measure ANOVA analysis was applied based on the parametric data, the presence of a dependent group, the continuous variable data, and the same number of variables in both groups. When we look at the results of the research, it is determined that body weight decrease (η2=52%), fat percentage (η2=30%), muscle amount (η2=44%) and water (η2=25%) percentage increase, as well as aerobic capacity increase statistically is seen. However, in the study, it was seen that the above-mentioned features did not affect the balance and reaction of the eight week dance based aerobic exercises. It is aimed to contribute to the literature and the field by examining the dance-based aerobic exercise types that are popular among the group fitness work trends, identifying the deficiencies and making new additions, determining the effect size of this course on body composition, aerobic capacity, balance and reaction.