1. Introduction
muscle mass, deaths
VIRUS
The COVID-19 pandemic limited older adults’ access to preventative and diagnostic services and negatively affected accessibility to age-appropriate exercise programs. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of conducting guided virtual functional fitness assessments before and after participation in an 8-week virtual, live fitness program (Vivo) designed for older adults. It was hypothesized there would be no significant difference between in-person and virtual functional fitness assessments and function would improve following the program. Thirteen community-dwelling older adults were recruited, screened, and randomly assigned to in-person-first or virtual-first fitness assessment groups. Validated assessments were delivered using standardized scripts by trained researchers and included Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) balance, a 30 s Chair Stand Test, 8 Foot Up-and-Go Test, 30 s Arm Curl Test, and 2 min Step Test. The eight-week, twice-a-week live virtual fitness program involved cardiovascular, balance, agility, Dual-Task, and strength training. Results showed no significant differences between all but one assessment measures, and several measures improved following the eight-week program. Fidelity checks demonstrated the high fidelity of program delivery. These findings illustrate that virtual assessments can be a feasible method to measure functional fitness in community-dwelling older adults.In December of 2019, the SARS-Cov-2 virus, better known as COVID-19, rapidly spread across the world. The relationship of morbidity and mortality and COVID-19 among older adults has been thoroughly researched. Similar to the United States, the countries of Korea and Italy documented that over 80% of the deaths due to COVID-19 were in people aged ≥ 60 years [In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, aging leads to many functional declines, including losses of muscle mass and muscle performance, characterized as a loss of muscle strength and power [Despite the well-known benefits of resistance training, only an estimated 8.7% of older adults in the United States meet the recommended amount of resistance training on a weekly basis [Fortunately, virtual fitness programs have provided opportunities to participate in physical activity from a person’s home and provide older adults with an accessible option to exercise that they may otherwise not have pursued. Costs for virtual fitness programs (i.e., internet access plans, webcams for computers/tablets) are similar to that of a fitness club (i.e., membership costs). However, there are limited published studies on the use of virtually delivered functional fitness assessments; yet, they have been promising [Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of conducting virtual functional fitness assessments and an eight-week virtual fitness training program specifically developed for community-dwelling older adults with low-to-moderate activity levels (