A 10 Week Study to Determine the Effects of Live Vs Virtual Delivery of Transitions Program on Fitness Related Components

The purpose of this study was to determine if the effectiveness of virtual fitness classes on improving fitness related outcomes as compared to in-person group fitness classes. This quantitative study was conducted with sedentary female subjects 45 to 65 years of age. Volunteers were selected to participate in either the live or virtual group using the WELLBEATS™ Transitions program for ten weeks. A repeated measures GLM revealed a significant multivariate within group effect for time (pre-posttest), Wilks’ λ = .133, F (12, 18) = 9.82, p <. 001, partial eta squared = .867 supported the impact of exercise on fitness. WELLBEATS™ Transitions Live and WELLBEATS™ Virtual group exercise programs both showed significant improvements on ten of the thirteen fitness measures. No significant difference was found between types of fitness exercise: WELLBEATS™ Transitions Live and WELLBEATS™ Transitions Virtual, Wilks’ λ = .532, F (13, 17) = 1.15, p = .468, partial eta squared= .468. This study indicates that both WELLBEATS™ Transitions Live and WELLBEATS™ Transitions Virtual were effective at improving health related outcomes.