JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

A healthy lifestyle is important to prevent or at least delay the onset of dementia. Thus, the large number of physically inactive adults necessitates the development and evalua-tion of intervention approaches that improve adherence to a physically active lifestyle. In this regard, hybrid physical training which usually combines center-based and home-based physical exercise sessions and which has been successfully applied in rehabilita-tive settings is a promising approach to preserve cognitive health. However, research in this field is scarce because hybrid physical training interventions have been underuti-lized to foster healthy cognitive aging. Moreover, neither a generally accepted definition nor a classification framework for hybrid physical training interventions is available. As vague terminology can be a major source of difficulty in scientific communication and might impede progress in this research direction, this article informs the reader about hybrid physical training by providing a definition and classification approach of differ-ent types, discussing their specific advantages and disadvantages, and provides rec-ommendations for future research.