Body composition and three indices of physical fitness in freshmen: exercise is of no effect?

Grip strength. back strength, standing trunk flexion and skinfold thickness were measured on 314 freshmen (mean 18.6 years). Body composition was estimated by the method of measuring skinfold thickness. The subjects were asked whether they had belonged to athletic clubs in junior and/or senior high schools or not, and they were divided into four groups with regard to their answers. Of the groups, group A is composed of 94 students who belonged to athletic clubs both in junior and senior high schools and group B is composed of 117 students who did not. The values of groups A and B were compared. The results were as follows: 1) The mean value of fat storage rate (% fat) of all subjects was 21% and 44 per cent of them were judged to be obese. 2) The % fat of growp A was smaller than that of group B. 3) Group A indicated significantly bigger Lean Body Mass (LBM) and LBM/Height-index than group B (P < 0.01). 4) The grip strength and back strength of group A were significantly better than those of group B (P < 0.01). 5) There was no statistical difference in standing trunk flexion between groups A and B. From these results, it seems that exercise in adolescence keeps % fat small. promotes the development of muscle and enhances muscular strength

Characteristics of body composition in male students with inactive life

This study was made to find the characteristics of body composition, aerobic capacity, and grip strength in male students with inactive life. For the purpose above, we studied those of three groups; male students with inactive life, male students belonging to a college tennis club and male personnel with sedentary life. Body composition was estimated by a method of measuring skinfold thickness. Aerobic capacity was measured by carrying out submaximal work with Isopower Ergometer in a bicycle shape. The results were as follows 1) The indices of aerobic capacity represented well the usual exercise-levels by figures 2) LBM influenced aerobic capacity for inactive men without distinction of the two ages 3) As the value of LBM increased，all subjects had a tendency to put forth grip strength further 4) A positive correlation was found between LBM and BFM of. inactive students (Pく0.05) 5) Only inactive students had a significant correlation between aerobic capacity and BFM(P <0.05) From the above, we indicated that inactive students were in a poor state of exercise. As this result, for inactive students, BFM was found to be rather large, and aerobic capacity also was found to be on low level. Aerobic capacity, however, was within the permitted limit. Moreover, we could conclude the following: For the male students with inactive life, the function of BFM on cardiorespiratory system would be weight for providing them with a certain exercise intensity, not having a time for exercise in particular form. Thus it was considered that BFM has an effect on aerobic capacity