Qom University of Medical Sciences Journal

Background and Objectives: Due tosomecultural problems, most people, especially women cannotgo togymsfor exercise. Therefore,researchersare trying todesign tools, which different individuals can easily exercise at anyplace and any time. One ofthese toolsis Thera-band. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of exercise using Thera-band on body composition in the middle-aged women.

Methods:Inthisquasi-experimentalstudy, amongteachersof Qom city, 20middle-aged womenwere randomly dividedintotwogroups of exercise(n=10) andcontrol(n=10). The exercise group exercised for 60minutes per session (3 sessions a week for 8 weeks), while the control groupperformed theirdaily activities. The training protocol consisted of upper and lower body exercises using Thera-band. The effects of this training program were assessed using the body composition measuring instruments, before and after training program. Data were analyzed by independentand pairedt-tests. The significance level was considered to beless than0.05.

Results: Eight weeks of exercise using Thera-band caused a significant decrease in the body fat percentage and body fat mass. Also, lean body mass significantly increased after 8 weeks of exercise using Thera-band.

Conclusion:The results of this study showed that exerciseusingThera-bandimproves body fat percentage, body fat mass, andlean body massinthe middle-aged women.