Health-related physical fitness and weight status in Hong Kong adolescents

Abstract

BackgroundThis study was designed to investigate the relation between health-related physical fitness and weight status in Hong Kong adolescents.Methods3,204 students aged 12-18 years participated in the Hong Kong Student Obesity Surveillance (HKSOS) project in 2006-2007. Anthropometric measures (height, weight) and health-related fitness (push-up, sit-up, sit-and-reach, 9-minute run) were assessed. Body mass index (BMI) was computed to classify participants into normal weight, underweight (Grade I, II/III), overweight, and obese groups. The associations of health-related physical fitness with BMI and weight status were examined by partial correlation coefficients and analysis of covariance, respectively.ResultsMore boys than girls were overweight or obese (18.0% vs 8.7%), but more girls than boys were underweight (22.3% vs 16.7%). Boys performed significantly (P < 0.001) better in sit-up (38.8 vs 31.6 times/min) and 9-minute run (1632.1 vs 1353.2 m), but poorer in sit-and-reach (27.4 vs 32.2 cm) than girls. All four physical fitness tests were significantly positively correlated with each other in both sexes, and BMI was only weakly correlated with sit up and sit-and-reach tests in boys. Decreasing performance (P for trend < 0.05) was observed from normal weight to overweight and obese for push-up, sit-up, and 9-minute run in both sexes. From normal weight to Grade I and Grade II/III underweight, decreasing performance (P for trend < 0.05) for sit-up and sit-and-reach in both sexes and for push-up in boys was observed.ConclusionsThe relations between BMI and health-related physical fitness in adolescents were non-linear. Overweight/obese and underweight adolescents had poorer performance in push-up and sit-up tests than normal weight adolescents. Different aspects of health-related physical fitness may serve as immediate indicators of potential health risks for underweight and overweight adolescents.

Association between body mass index, body fat per cent and muscle power output in soccer players

“…Therefore, soccer clubs, which commonly develop exercise training programs, should target optimal body mass and fat. The advantage of our research was the laboratory setting where measurements took place by the same experienced staff (PhD in exercise physiology), in contrast with the field methods employed to assess physical fitness in previous research [10][11][12]26]. The disadvantage was that because of the cross-sectional design of our research, it was not possible to infer causal relationships between BMI, BF and physical fitness, and therefore, results should be regarded with caution.…”

“…The comparison between groups with different BMI has revealed that groups with lower or normal BMI perform better in physical fitness tests than do the overweight/obese or those with higher BMI [10][11][12][13][14]. However, such associations have not yet been investigated in soccer players.…”

Connections between morphological characteristics and cardiorespiratory fitness of students

“…Прегледом досадашњих истраживања утврђено је да постоји разлика између мушкараца и жена у погледу појединих антропометријских мера и параметара физичког фитнеса (Radu et al 2014;Parseh & Solhjoo 2015;Mak et al 2010;Czajkowska et al 2009;Andreasi et al 2010;Miyatake et al 2012;Pribis et al 2010;Arabmomeni & Alaei 2013;Koley & Kumaar 2011). Постоји разлика између испитаника мушке и женске популације у корелацијама трансверзалних антропометријских мера и флексибилности, као и обима грудног коша и снаге трбушне мускулатуре (Radu et al 2014).…”

“…Статистичка анализа показује боље резултате дечака у тестовима трбушњаци и трчање 9 мин ., а слабији код теста дубоки претклон седећи. Ученици оба пола са прекомерном тежином и неухрањени, имају лошије резултате код адолесцената нормалне тежине код тестова склекови и трбушњаци (Mak et al 2010). Већина активних студенткиња (52%) у нормалном распону, а у случају ПБФ, 65% активних студенткиња је испод нормале, док је 33% у нормалним оквирима.…”

Bite-force difference among obese adolescents in central Taiwan

“…11 Moreover, overweight and obese adolescents exhibit poorer performance in health-related physical fitness than normalweight adolescents. 12 Although many known factors can affect bite force, as summarized above, there are also unknown biological, behavioral, and social contributing factors. 2 A study which focused on older Japanese people revealed that being overweight was significantly associated with lower bite force, 13 which indicated that bite force does not necessarily increase with body weight.…”