Background: Overweight and obese adolescents are often associated with lower Physical Activity (PA) levels and low Cardiorespiratory Fitness (CRF). Recently, the concept of Physical Literacy (PL), has been suggested to be associated with higher levels of active behavior and better health in adolescents. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between PL, body composition, cardiorespiratory fitness and physical activity levels in French secondary school students. Methods: The level of PL was assessed in 85 French adolescents using a French version of the Perceived Physical Literacy Instrument (F-PPLI). Cardiorespiratory fitness was measured by the “20 m adapted walk/shuttle run test”. The PA level was assessed by the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System questionnaire. Weight status was measured by the Body Mass Index (BMI) and the body composition data. Results: We find a significant association between the PL and the percentage Fat Mass (%FM) (r = −0.43; p ≤ 0.01), between the PL and moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) per week (r = 0.38; p ≤ 0.01). The PL was associated (r = 0.36; p ≤ 0.01) with the percentage of Skeletal Muscle Mass (%SMM) and cardiorespiratory fitness (r = 0.40; p ≤ 0.05). Conclusions: Developing the PL for the most disadvantaged secondary school students in a PA program could be a suitable strategy to increase their PA level, reduce their adiposity, and promote better long-term health.

Recently, the concept of Physical Literacy (PL) has emerged as a key concept for promoting active behavior and improving health indicators in adolescents. Overweight and obese adolescents have a low level of Physical Activity (PA), low cardiorespiratory capacity, and high Body Fat percentage (%BF). However, the development of PL in the interest of health improvement has never been studied in overweight and obese adolescents. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of an intervention developing PL in overweight and obese adolescents in order to increase their (PA) and improve their health. The study was a prospective, single-arm, non-randomized interventional study. The intervention brings together different actions in PA and dietary education in different adolescent living environments. The study took place over a 9-month period with two data collection times (0; +9 months) and measured Body Mass Index (BMI) and BMI z score, %BF and Skeletal Muscle Mass (%SMM), Moderate-to-Vigorous intensity Physical Activity (MVPA) by accelerometry, CRF, as well as PL by the CAPL-2 tool. Thirteen adolescents (age 11.7 (±1.09) years old) improved their PL scores (+8.3 (±9.3) pts; p ≤ 0.01). BMI z score (−0.3 (±0.3), p ≤ 0.01), their %BF (−3.8 (±4.9); p ≤ 0.01), their CRF (+1.5 (±1.7) mL·min·kg−1; p ≤ 0.01), and their MVPA (+4.6 (±13.7) min/day; p = 0.36). Initiating multidimensional interventions to develop PL in overweight and obese adolescents may be a promising prospect to enable an increase in their MVPA and improve their long-term health. Longer-term randomized controlled interventional studies are needed to confirm these findings.

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Background: In children with obesity, the imbalance between O2 delivery and extraction might be related to the inability to achieve VO2max during treadmill tests. The aim of the study is to characterize the changes in muscle deoxyhemoglobin (BPdeoxy[heme]) in the gastrocnemius medialis of children with obesity. 26 children with obesity (11.6±1.7 y) performed a treadmill walking test to exhaustion during which pulmonary gas exchanges and gastrocnemius medialis deoxy[heme] responses were measured continuously. BPdeoxy[heme] was determined for each participant using piecewise double-linear regressions. VO2peak and deoxy[heme] responses were compared between participants who achieved the criteria for verifying VO2max (VO2 plateau or both heart rate >95% and respiratory exchange ratio >1.0) and those not. Results: BPdeoxy[heme] was detected in 25 out of 26 participants at 77±9% VO2peak and occurred at a similar relative intensity both subgroups. There was no relationship between BPdeoxy[heme] and VO2peak. Conclusion: The imbalance between O2 delivery and extraction occur at high intensites during a treadmill walking test in youth with obesity, that may partly explain their difficulty to further continue the test regardless of the achievement of the criteria for verifying VO2max.