Abstract
As longevity increases, researches on the elderly arise the interest of researchers. The relation between physical exercise and functional capacity is one of them. The aim of this study is to evaluate the physical condition of women over 60 years old, who practice regular physical activity or not.The 20-elderly women sample was divided in two groups of ten participants. The active group was formed by elderly from the Physical Activity Group Good Age, at the Universidade Regional do Noroeste do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul; the non-practicing physical activity group were elderly who were undertaking physiotherapy at the Physiotherapy School Clinic of the same university. The analyzed data found the following results: the non-practicing group had a percentage of fat of 28.98% and was above the ideal level for their age; regarding cardiovascular risk, evaluated by the waist-to-hip ratio, both groups presented low risk. Results obtained in the flexitest allow to conclude that the group of practitioners has more flexibility than the non-practitioners. In the evaluation of the local muscular endurance, the group of active women was superior in the number of repetitions per minute; in the local muscular strength this group obtained the best results, with statistic difference between them; in the evaluation of the static balance there was no statistical difference, although the time remaining in the static position for practitioners was longer than the other group.
women; longevity; exercise; motor activity; physical fitness; Rio Grande do Sul
