The concept of typological variability of physiological individuality: II. Somatotype heterogeneity of population groups differing in habitual physical activity

Abstract

Individual typological characteristics of habitual physical activity (HPA) in subjects of the preschool, primary school, and young adult ages were determined, and three functional types (FTs) comprising subjects with low, medium, and high HPAs (LHPA, MHPA, and HHPA, respectively) were distinguished (FT-1, FT-2, and FT-3, respectively). Subsequent comparison between the three groups of subjects showed that they differed in the ratio between the numbers of subjects with different morphological types (somatotypes). The results are at variance with the generally accepted notion on unidirectional changes in functional characteristics in the eurysomy-leptosomy series and permit a conceptual approach to the development of a partial (functional) scheme of constitution.