More than 320 seniors assessed in 2021

After a troubled months with covid-19, the evaluations were once again carried out. Between May to September, a total of 327 elderlies (70% females and 30% males) were evaluated in Portugal (32 females and 38 males), Italy (76 females and 31 males), Hungary (54 females and 9 males) and Spain (67 females and 20 males). Bulgaria and Slovenia could not evaluate their participants due to the difficulties on hearing trainers, for the first, and because Slovenia was the latest member of this project and has only had 5 participants. This moment included anthropometric evaluations, physical fitness tests and a questionnaire. In the anthropometrics, it was found similar results for height, with Hungary showing a slightly higher values in both, male and female. Higher results on Italian females and Hungarian males were observed, however, neither the fat mass percentage, nor the waist circumference do not seem to keep up on the same proportion. Finally, body mass index (BMI) was higher than 25 kg/m2 in all countries. When analyzing the physical fitness test, through the Senior Fitness Test battery, very similar results were observed, when comparing the four different countries, only a few values should be highlighted. In the handgrip test, the values of Portugal stand out, both in male (60.37±25.91 versus the mean value of 49.15±20.99) and female (44.78±16.21 versus the mean value of 29.04±11.51). Also, in the 6 minutes walking test, Portugal presented the highest results both in male (642.31±73.85 versus the mean value of 592.41±90.96) and female (584.41±55.55 versus the mean value of 524.74±85.66). Hungary showed slightly lower mean values in the chair stand tests, for both male (14.78±1.72 versus the mean value of 17.31±4.97) and female (14.83±3.66 versus the mean value of 16.05±6.75). In flexibility tests, both in the lower (chair sit and reach) and upper (back scratch) limbs, as expected, women always showed better results compared to men. When analyzing the reasons that lead this age-group to practice physical exercise, it was possible to verify that the recognition factor is the less important, following their reports. On the other and, the fitness factor, seems to play an important role to be involved in physical activity. Nevertheless, in the general point of view, there is a strong motivation on the part of the respondents to practice physical exercise. As a conclusion, this data supports the empirical notions that, COVID-19 pandemic impose special considerations special in the development of the assessments and the need to give special attention to body composition.