Background: Exercise is recommended for managing fibromyalgia; however, the scant details provided about exercise programs (EP) in the available literature make standardization, replicability, and interpretation of results difficult. The aim of the present report is to provide a comprehensive CERT (Consensus on Exercise Reporting Template)-based description of the rationale and details of the land- and water-based EP implemented in the al-Andalus Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT). Methods: Women aged 35-65 with fibromyalgia (n=180) were planned to be recruited in Southern Spain (Andalucia). The study design was composed of three groups: the usual care (control) group, the land- and the water-based supervised exercise intervention groups (n=60 for each group). Participants allocated in the exercise intervention groups undertook a 24-week supervised multicomponent (strength, aerobic and flexibility) EP (three non-consecutive sessions per week, 45-60 min/session). The rationale of the exercise program is described in detail following the CERT criteria detailing its 16 key items. Discussion: This study details the supervised EP of the al-Andalus RCT project, which may serve: 1) exercise professionals who would like to implement an evidence-based supervised EP for people with fibromyalgia in land- and water-based settings, and 2) as an example of the application of the CERT criteria.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

This project was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation [I+D+i DEP2010-15639]. ICAG was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [BES-2011-047133]. BGC was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education [FPU15/00002] and the Spanish Ministry of Universities Next Generation Margarita Salas Grant Program. VSJ was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education [AP-2010-0963]. MBC was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education [FPU14/02518].

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The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

The Medical Ethics Committee of Hospital Virgen de las Nieves (Granada, Spain) gave ethical approval for this work

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All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors