Abstract
This study evaluated how aerobic capacity is related to performance in other aspects of health-related physical fitness among schoolchildren. The study involved >15,200 schoolchildren of both genders aged 11–18 years, who were tested with a reliable tests from Eurofit battery for most important aspects of exercise capacity and anthropometrics from 1992 to 2012. The analysis showed that aerobic capacity was weakly but significantly positively related to all other aspects of exercise abilities tested in all age groups for both genders. Variance of performance in agility shuttle run and standing broad jump were each explained by aerobic capacity the strongest (>10%), followed by weaker but still significant positive relation of aerobic capacity with the abilities in bent arm hang and abdominal curl tests (aerobic capacity explaining ∼6.5% of the variance of the performance in these tests), as well as in balance and flexibility tasks (aerobic capacity significantly explaining ∼3% of the variance). Thus, while aerobic capacity in schoolchildren of all ages and both genders can explain the performance in other aspects of physical fitness and especially leg muscle power, the percent of explained variance in the results of any these tests was not high and therefore aerobic capacity should be tested as a separate important fitness parameter which cannot be substituted by other tests from the Eurofit battery.
Highlights
Health-related physical fitness is a multifactorial construct that encompasses cardio-respiratory capacity, muscular strength, speed/agility, balance and flexibility components (Huang and Malina, 2002)
Aerobic capacity was positively related to all other aspects of physical fitness tested in all age groups and both genders of schoolchildren
Aerobic capacity was most strongly related to performance in agility shuttle run and standing broad jump, where it explained >10% of the variance in performance in these tests; followed bent arm hang time and number of abdominal curls, the results of each of which were explained by ∼6–7% of the variance in aerobic capacity; the performance in Flamingo balance and sit-and-reach flexibility tests were each explained by ∼3% of the variance in aerobic capacity
Summary
Health-related physical fitness is a multifactorial construct that encompasses cardio-respiratory (aerobic) capacity, muscular strength, speed/agility, balance and flexibility components (Huang and Malina, 2002). Aerobic capacity, which is the highest amount of oxygen consumed during maximal exercise in activities that uses the large muscle groups, is associated with a risk of developing metabolic syndrome or diabetes (Carnethon et al, 2003; Ruiz et al, 2009) as well as with a risk of cardiac events (Laukkanen et al, 2004). It is metabolic health that is strongly associated with aerobic capacity, and it has been reported that about 4% of schoolchildren in the United States already have metabolic syndrome (Welk et al, 2011). Recent declines in children’s aerobic capacity have been attributed to increases in obesity (Albon et al, 2010) and to reduced physical activity (Huotari et al, 2010; Pahkala et al, 2013), which are interrelated (Lamboglia et al, 2013)
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