Development of Tai Chi Training Program to Improve Health-Related Physical Fitness for the Elderly in Guangdong Province the People’s Republic of China

Background and Aim: Tai Chi has been widely recognized for promoting and improving the health level of middle-aged and elderly people while exploring the role of Tai Chi in promoting the health of middle-aged and elderly people, understanding the relationship between participation motivation, satisfaction, leisure benefits, and compliance of Tai Chi participants will be of greater significance for further enhancing the application value of Tai Chi in promoting the health of middle-aged and elderly people. The purpose of this study was to develop of tai chi training program to improve health-related physical fitness for the elderly in Guangdong province. Materials and Methods: This study was a mixed method; it combines quantitative and qualitative research. To study the need for a Tai Chi training program to improve health-related physical fitness for elderly used the elderly who practice Tai Chi in Guangzhou city, a total sample size was 400 people was used, including 36 Tai Chi coaches and 36 stakeholders. Invite 9 experts for the focus group method to create the training program, and invite 7 experts to confirm the training program. The experiment used 30 elderly people who practice Tai Chi in a park in Shaoguan City. These elderly people come to practice Tai Chi every day and are over 60 years old. The instruments used in data collection were tested for their quality by 5 experts (IOC value = 0.60-1.00, Cronbach alpha value = 0.84-0.91). The statistics used in analyzing the questionnaires included mean, standard deviation, percentage, and frequency. The comparison of the experimental results used a paired t-test. Results: The appropriate Tai Chi posture is gathering power to separate the clouds, punching the air with a fist, the train rolling back, spinning to see the moon, catching fish looking at the sky, dove flapping wings, rainbow dance, rowing in the middle of the pond respectively (For the development of the experimental program in 8 weeks). After the experiment, it was found that the mean before and after the experiment of heart rate/minute, fatigue resistance, health status, and physical and mental performance were significantly different at the 0.05 level. Conclusion: The study found that, at a 0.05 significance level, an 8-week Tai Chi program that used particular postures significantly enhanced heart rate, fatigue resistance, health status, and physical and mental performance.