MEDICAL AREA   

Medicina dello Sport 2020 March;73(1):53-69

DOI: 10.23736/S0025-7826.20.03603-0

Copyright © 2020 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English, Italian

Cardiorespiratory fitness in overweight young boys and girls is underestimated due to less perceived exertion

Emilio J. MARTÍNEZ-LÓPEZ ¹, Maria T. REDECILLAS-PEIRÓ ², Manuel J. DE LA TORRE-CRUZ ³, Sebastián LÓPEZ-SERRANO ¹, Alberto RUIZ-ARIZA ¹ ✉

¹ Department of Didactic of Body Expression, Faculty of Humanities and Education Sciences, University of Jaén, Jaén, Spain; ² Group of Physical Activity Applied to Education and Health, Hospital San Agustín, Linares, Spain; ³ Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Education Sciences, University of Jaén, Jaén, Spain

BACKGROUND: Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is considered by a number of researchers as the main marker of health during adolescence and for future adulthood. The usual assessment of CRF does not differentiate weight status or supported effort in youths during the test. This study compared and quantified the effect size of overweight status on CRF results of adolescents and established CRF’s relationship with perceived exertion (Borg’s scale adapted) during 20-m shuttle run test (20-m SRT).
METHODS: Cross-sectional study with 9652 Spanish adolescents aged 12-16 years.
RESULTS: The 87.5% of teenagers with excess weight showed lower CRF values than the average of normal-weight young people, however they perceive 7% less of effort during the CRF test (P<0.001). The differences in CRF are similar according to gender and weight status, with focus on overweight, in adolescents (all P>0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: CRF in overweight young people and girls is underestimated because both show less effort that normal weight and boys respectively during a maximal test as 20-m SRT. Reference values of 20-m SRT, according to weight status and sex, for ages between 12-16 years, after adaptation to the perceived exertion, are showed.

KEY WORDS: Physical fitness; Obesity; Physical education and training