Senior Fitness Test Manual - 9781450411189

Rikli and Jones (kinesiology and health science, California State U., Fullerton) provide a manual for health practitioners and fitness and rehabilitation specialists on assessing physical illness in adults ages 60 and older, to help them identify weaknesses that cause mobility problems, set fitness goals, and develop exercise programs. They introduce a senior fitness test that covers the major components needed to perform everyday activities: lower and upper-body strength and flexibility, aerobic endurance, agility, and balance. They detail ways to use the test, its features, and its history; how it relates to traditional theories and models about physical decline in later life; how to select test items; its validity, reliability, and percentile norms; and instructions for administration and interpretation. This edition includes criterion-referenced, clinically relevant fitness standards for identifying test scores correlated with maintaining mobility and independence, as well as information on the purpose and process of developing these standards and interpreting criterion-referenced scores and setting fitness goals, along with modified performance charts to reflect standards. It has more on modifying test protocols for older adults with limitations resulting from specific conditions; forms, instructions, and performance charts; a new chapter on recommended exercises; updated references, statistics, and guidelines developed in the US, Canada, and the UK, and by the World Health Organization; an expanded chapter on improving test scores; and a companion DVD with visual demonstrations of tests and modifications. Annotation ©2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)