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Background/Aims: Improvements to the quality of life of tai chi practitioners have been demonstrated in the literature; however, less is known about the possible effects on the quality of life of practitioners of harder styles of martial arts in older populations. The aim of this study was to identify what facets of a modified hard martial arts programme motivated participants to attend and therefore guide the design of future programmes. Methods: A total of nine community-dwelling older adults with a mean age of 75 years (± 7.3 years) who participated in 12 weeks of modified hard martial arts training were asked if they had perceived any changes to their health or quality of life over the participation period. A self-reported survey instrument, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, was used to measure change pre- and post-intervention, and semi-structured interviews were used to explore participants' motivators for participating, perceived benefits and concerns. Results: Five themes emerged which were: (1) a general feeling that quality of life had increased; (2) an increase in social interaction; (3) increased physical abilities; (4) the need to preserve a safe training environment; and (5) a sense of loss relating to the study ending. Positive and Negative Affect Schedule scores indicated clinically significant improvement but did not reach statistical significance. Conclusions: These themes may have important implications when designing future hard martial arts programmes aimed at attracting older persons who prefer to engage in vigorous exercise. Implications for practice: As populations around the world age, engaging older adults in activities that promote fitness and social inclusion becomes increasingly important to maintain health into older age. Providing diverse and non-mainstream niche opportunities to older adults such as this programme will maximise engagement and potentially reduce loneliness and physical morbidity in older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective was to assess the effect of hard martial arts on the physical fitness components such as balance, flexibility, gait, strength, cardiorespiratory function and several mental functions in people over forty. A computerized literature search was carried out. Studies were selected when they had an experimental design, the age of the study population was >40, one of the interventions was a hard martial art, and when at least balance and cardiorespiratory functions were used as an outcome measure. We included four studies, with, in total, 112 participants, aged between 51 and 93 years. The intervention consisted of Taekwondo or Karate. Total training duration varied from 17 to 234 h. All four studies reported beneficial effects, such as improvement in balance, in reaction tests, and in duration of single leg stance. We conclude that because of serious methodological shortcomings in all four studies, currently there is suggestive, but insufficient evidence, that hard martial arts practice improves physical fitness functions in healthy people over 40. However, considering the importance of such effects, and the low costs of the intervention, the potential of beneficial health effects of age-adapted, hard martial arts training, in people over 40, warrants further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Age-related cognitive decline is associated with increased risk of disability, dementia, and death. Recent studies suggest improvement in cognitive speed, attention, and executive functioning with physical activity. However, whether such improvements are activity specific is unclear. Therefore, we aimed to study the effect of 1 year age-adapted Taekwondo training on several cognitive functions, including reaction/motor time, information processing speed, and working and executive memory, in 24 healthy volunteers over 40. Reaction and motor time decreased with 41.2 and 18.4 s (p = 0.004, p = 0.015), respectively. Digit symbol coding task improved with a mean of 3.7 digits (p = 0.017). Digit span, letter fluency, and trail making test task-completion-time all improved, but not statistically significant. The questionnaire reported "better" reaction time in 10 and "unchanged" in 9 of the 19 study compliers. In conclusion, our data suggest that age-adapted Taekwondo training improves various aspects of cognitive function in people over 40, which may, therefore, offer a cheap, safe, and enjoyable way to mitigate age-related cognitive decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]