PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to examine the current status and pattern of exercise prescription. In particular, we analyzed exercise prescription trends according to the health-related physical fitness level of Korean adults, using large-scale data from the Korea National Fitness Award program. METHODS This study used healthrelated physical fitness and exercise prescription data collected from the Korea National Fitness Award between January 2018 and April 2023. A total of 475,555 adult participants were included in the analysis. Data processing involved frequency analysis, in which the frequency of each exercise prescription by fitness component was divided by the overall frequency of exercise prescriptions, allowing for the identification of exercise prescriptions specific to health-related fitness. Furthermore, association rules analysis was applied to examine prescription patterns across different fitness domains. RESULTS First, the most frequently prescribed exercises for Korean adults were core-centered activities such as the “sit-and-stand,” “prone hold,” and “sit-ups.” Second, although upper-body-focused muscle strength exercises were commonly prescribed, the overall prescription pattern was still dominated by core-based exercises. Third, exercises specific to muscular endurance and flexibility included “lying leg raises,” “lying arm and leg raises,” and the “lying sky bicycle.” Corecentered flexibility and endurance activities, such as “hip stretches,” “front thigh stretches,” and “abdominal stretches,” were also prevented. Fourth, in the domain of cardiopulmonary endurance, swimming emerged as a distinctive aerobic exercise, particularly prescribed for obesity management. The prescription pattern in this category was characterized by compound training, combining aerobic and resistance exercises. CONCLUSIONS These findings provide foundational evidence for the development of targeted exercise prescription manuals tailored to health-related physical fitness levels. Furthermore, they support the advancement of a personalized exercise prescription system designed to improve the effectiveness of the promotion programs for Korean adults.
