Associations of muscular and cardiorespiratory fitness with total and central body fat in adolescents: The HELENA Study

Abstract

lower body muscular strength and cardiorespiratory fitness are negatively and consistently associated with total and central body fat in adolescents, whereas levels of upper body muscular strength were superior in adolescents with higher levels of central body fat.

Gordura corporal, aptidão muscular e cardiorrespiratória segundo a maturação sexual em adolescentes brasileiros de uma cidade de colonização germânica

“…Unlike the results of this study, differences were also found in young Brazilians athletes (14 to 16 years old) (24) and European adolescents (13.0 to 18.5 years old) (9) in handgrip and push-up tests, controlled by body fat, fat-free mass and physical activity during leisure time. In a longitudinal study, sexual maturation explained 12% of the variability in muscle strength as measured by vertical jump test in boys aged 10 and 12 years (20) .…”

“…Flexibility in girls remained stable throughout pubertal development, as observed in girls from a city with high HDI (0.810) inhabited by southern settlers, mostly descendents of Polish, Germans, Italians, Ukrainians, and native people, in southern Brazil (8) , and in girls from nine European countries, including Germany (9) . Researchers have reported a weak correlation between sexual maturation and flexibility, and the variability of this component is explained less than 2% by maturation, height and body mass index (8) .…”

“…Modern times brought changes in eating habits and physical activity patterns, resulting in a global obesity outbreak (22) . Although this variable has not been investigated, evidence (9) showed that physically active adolescents have higher amounts of muscle mass and lower body fat percentage.…”

“…These differences were not evident in students (10-12 years old) from a Brazilian city of mixed population (5) . Naturally, due to the action of sexual hormones, a progressive increase in body fat was observed in girls with maturation (21) ; however, their lower involvement in physical activities (9) and inadequate eating habits (22) may contribute to increased body fat percentage levels.…”

“…Chronological age is often used to characterize the physical fitness profile in adolescents (8) ; however, biological age (sexual maturation) has emerged as an adjustment variable in the analysis (7,9) due to body changes in puberty. Adolescents of the same chronological age may show different sexual maturation stages, and those who are in more advanced biological maturation stages tend to have physical fitness characteristics different from the others (6,8) .…”