Editorial: Optimal Physical Activity Across the Lifespan for People of All Abilities

David Arthur Hart^*Ronald F Zernicke

• University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada

Much of the focus on the benefits of exercise has been directed towards the elite athlete, pushing the boundaries of our genetic inheritance to higher and higher levels of accomplishment. Clearly the abilities of Olympic athletes are examples of this direction, as well as other amateur and professional athletes. These directions are dependent on intense exercise and training programs, as well as mental health, and they do provide new insights about the upper limits of human capabilities. They, however, can also have consequences such as injuries to tissues of essential physiological systems such as those of the musculoskeletal (MSK) system. In addition, a focus on only the extremes of exercise and functionality often loses sight of the fundamental premise that loading of our tissuesparticularly those of the MSK and cardiovascular systems-is essential for health, and thus important for everyone of all ages and abilities. While all humans benefit from physical activity, females and males and different races may differ regarding risks and benefits [7], so "one size may not fit all".In recent years, there has been a shift in many "modern" occupations from being physically demanding to prolonged periods of "inactivity" while sitting at a desk in front of a computer screen [reviewed in 8]. For example, children and adolescents sit in school much of the day or in front of their electronic devices, leading to extended periods of inactivity in otherwise healthy populations that are growing and maturing, and thus setting a suboptimal "baseline" for several physiological systems during a critical phase of life [9,10]! In addition to those populations, there may be others of different ages that have compromised abilities to perform exercise as a result of limited access to programs, physical limitations due to injury, developmental deficits, and/or chronic diseases or complications from lifestyle choices and their consequences. Such populations can still benefit from tailored, adaptive exercise programs that offer aerobic and/or resistive exercises +/-augmentation, which allow for maintenance of essential physiological systems.To address many of the issues and challenges to meet those needs in populations across a wide spectrum of abilities, this Special Collection of articles was conceived and complied. It consists of both original research reports and reviews. The collection of articles includes 11 peer-reviewed and accepted submissions, which provide excellent examples of how physical activity programs can provide benefits to specific populations ranging from the young to the elderly with and without specific limitations, as well those that are motivated to achieve excellence despite perceived limitations, such as in the Paralympics.The spectrum of articles in the Special Collection addresses several conditions, diseases, and circumstances that impact a wide variety of populations. Those include different types of exercise programs and activities that target specific populations such as neurodivergent children provides insights into some recently identified biomarkers in triathletes, and building on those results, it would be interesting in the future to investigate whether similar or different biomarkers are also identified as efficacy determinants for physical activity programs in some of the specific populations that are the focus of other articles in this Special Collection.In summary, the focus of this Special Collection is a series of articles, which address the need for and benefits of physical activity on populations across a wide spectrum of abilities. This collection is complementary to an earlier Special Collection we edited, which focused on the benefits of physical activity for those aspiring to the extremes of achievement [11]. Our intent is that this current Special Collection will highlight the need and benefits for Homo sapiens of all abilities to engage in physical activity and perhaps provide inspiration for some populations not covered in this collection to develop and implement specialized physical activity programs to enlist an even broader spectrum of positive health benefits for persons with abilities limited or challenged by circumstances.