Tai Chi Chuan Combined With Walking on Physical and Mental Parameters of Older Adults

Participants perform a 12-week program with two weekly sessions on non-consecutive days. The sessions last 75 min (5 min of warm-up, 45 min of Tai Chi Chuan (TCC), 20 min of walking, and 5 min of cool-down). The intervention occurs at the School of Physical Education, Federal University of Pelotas. The TCC section occurs in a mirrored dance studio, while walking occurs on an indoor sports court. The TCC sections are based on the simplified Yang 16-movement form. Over the 12 weeks, participants learn the fundamentals and basic principles of TCC and practice the 16 movements. In the walking sections, the intensity of the effort and recovery periods are controlled through the Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) using the Borg scale 6-20. Effort and recovery periods are on 13 and 11 RPE, respectively. The effort and recovery lengths vary over the weeks. The training sessions are collective, with 5 to 20 participants, supervised by two experienced instructors, a TCC and a fitness instructor.

Participants perform a 12-week training program with two weekly exercise sessions on non-consecutive days. The sessions last 30 minutes (5 minutes of warm-up, 20 minutes of walking, and 5 minutes of cool-down) throughout the intervention period. The intervention occurs in an indoor sports court at the School of Physical Education, Federal University of Pelotas. In the walking sections, the intensity of the effort and recovery periods are controlled through the Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) using the Borg scale 6-20. Effort and recovery periods are on 13 and 11 RPE, respectively. The effort and recovery lengths vary over the weeks. The training sessions are collective, with 5 to 20 participants, supervised by two experienced instructors, a TCC and a fitness instructor.