This study aimed to determine the level of habitual physical activity and time of practice of older practitioners of physical activities in a acquaintance group. It is a cross-sectional descriptive and the non-probability sample consisted of 234 elderly females aged more than 60 years (69.52 ± 5.51 years). For data collection, it was used a questionnaire with information related to satisfaction with health, disease and medication use and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) - long form, adapted for the elderly. The time of practice (full years) was informed through individual interviews. Data were analyzed using the statistical program SPSS 12.0, with descriptive analysis. Regarding the practice of physical activity, the elderly, most (82.1%), were more active with weekly average of 322.62 minutes. In the contribution of different domains of physical activity in the total expenditure in minutes per week of physical activity, the most prevalent domain were the leisure activities and recreation (42.01%). Regarding the time of practice in the elderly group, the average time of participation in the group was 7.35 (± 5.34) years. Besides the deployment of physical activity programs targeted to seniors, especially for the elderly with advanced age, the programs must have a goal to improve the physical capabilities of the individual and awareness of the importance of the practice of physical activities as a factor to improve the quality of life.
aging; physical activity; group interaction; cross-sectional study