A comparison of body composition of college youth
A comparison of body composition of college youth
Resumen
History points that the peoples who cared for their bodies and engaged in vigorous physical activities remained strong and prosperous, whereas those neglected them, waned and perished. The term overweight refers only to body mass in excess of some standard, usually the mean body mass for a given stature. Being above some “average”, “ideal”, or “desirable” body mass based on height-weight tables should not necessarily dictate whether or not some one goes on a reducing regimen. A more desirable alternative is to determine the body composition by one of several laboratory or field techniques. Evaluation of body composition has become an important aspect of adult fitness and medically supervised rehabilitation programme. Suitable body composition is important for general health and appearance for maximizing athletic performance. Evaluation of body composition permits quantification of major structural components of body – muscle, bone, and fat. The accurate calculation of percent body fat is the true definition of fitness and obesity. The accurate measurement of lean body mass is now the most rational basis for nutritional and exercise prescriptions. It is important to assess both weight and percent body fat because they provide two related pieces of information about a person’s body composition. Body weight is easy to measure and once some one has an understanding of a desirable body weight for his or her frame, weight can be used to monitor changes in body composition. The shortcoming of using only body weight is that the lean weight component, frame size and muscle development are not accurately considered. Two individuals of the same height, gender and age may weigh the same, but have different levels of lean mass and body fat.
Introduction
History points that the peoples who cared for their bodies and engaged in vigorous physical activities remained strong and prosperous, whereas those neglected them, waned and perished. The term overweight refers only to body mass in excess of some standard, usually the mean body mass for a given stature. Being above some “average”, “ideal”, or “desirable” body mass based on height-weight tables should not necessarily dictate whether or not some one goes on a reducing regimen. A more desirable alternative is to determine the body composition by one of several laboratory or field techniques. Evaluation of body composition has become an important aspect of adult fitness and medically supervised rehabilitation programme. Suitable body composition is important for general health and appearance for maximizing athletic performance. Evaluation of body composition permits quantification of major structural components of body – muscle, bone, and fat. The accurate calculation of percent body fat is the true definition of fitness and obesity. The accurate measurement of lean body mass is now the most rational basis for nutritional and exercise prescriptions. It is important to assess both weight and percent body fat because they provide two related pieces of information about a person’s body composition. Body weight is easy to measure and once some one has an understanding of a desirable body weight for his or her frame, weight can be used to monitor changes in body composition. The shortcoming of using only body weight is that the lean weight component, frame size and muscle development are not accurately considered. Two individuals of the same height, gender and age may weigh the same, but have different levels of lean mass and body fat.
Area of the Study
The purpose of study was to compare body composition of adult men of Delhi on the basis of their level of activity.
Methods
For the purpose of present study five thousand adult males of Delhi State with age ranging from 18-25 years were selected randomly as the subjects for the study. On the basis of duration of physical activity, subjects were divided into three-activity group namely; low active group, medium active group and highly active group. Following variables were selected for the purpose of present study: Body Density, Body Fat Percentage, Body Mass Index, Fat Mass and Skin folds thickness (Chest, Triceps, Sub scapular and Sum of three skin folds), Height, Weight and Activity. The scores for each variable were gathered for all the subjects separately and then pooled age wise. Analysis of variance was employed to compare the subjects belonging to different activity groups, on different variables. The level of significance was set at 0.05
Results
Analysis of results in relation to various activity groups revealed significant differences between three activity groups namely low active group, medium active group and highly active group on all the selected variables. Height shows significant differences among three groups. Mean height scores were higher in low active group and lowest in medium active. Mean weight was more in highly active and lowest in low active group. Mean scores of all other body components were higher in low active group than medium and highly active group. Since analysis of variance was found significant in all the variables Scheffe’s post hoc test was applied to test the inter group variability. Post hoc test revealed that variability exists between all the groups only in case of chest skin fold. Variability does not exist between medium active group and highly active group in body fat percent, fat mass, lean body mass, triceps skin fold, sum of three skin folds, sit ups and income. Variability does not exist between medium active and highly active and low active and highly active group on sub scapular skin fold, and height. Sit and reach and weight do not exhibit any variability between age groups.
Table 1. Analysis of variance of selected body composition variables in relation to activity groups
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Table 2. MEAN AND STANDARD DEVIATION OF SELECTED VARIABLES FOR DIFFERENT ACTIVITY GROUPS
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Figure 1 Mean Sit Up Scores
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Figure 2 Mean Sit and Reach Scores
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Figure 3 Mean Height
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Figure 4 Mean Weight
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Figure 5 Mean Scores of Body Density
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Figure 6 Body Fat Percent in Different Groups
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Figure 7 Mean Scores of Fat Mass
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Figure 8 Mean Scores of lean Body Mass
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Figure 9 Mean Body Mass Index
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Figure 2 Mean Sit and Reach Scores
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Figure 10 Mean Values of Chest Skin Fold
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Figure 11 Mean Values of Triceps Skin Fold
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Figure 12 Mean Values of Sub scapular Skin Fold
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Figure 13 Mean Scores of Sum of Three Skinfolds
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Figure 14 Mean Income Scores
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Discussions
Analysis of results in relation to various activity groups revealed significant differences between three activity groups namely low active group, medium active group and highly active group on all the selected variables. Height shows significant differences among three groups. Mean height scores were higher in low active group and lowest in medium active. Mean weight was more in highly active and lowest in low active group. Both motor fitness variables sit-ups and sit & reach showed increasing trend with increase in the physical activity level of the subjects. Physically active people possess considerably less total body fat than their in active contemporaries. Subjects with less physical activity level bears more fat percent and fat mass in comparison to those who are more physically active. This clearly indicates that physical activity level of an individual affects the body composition of the youth. Muscle mass may decrease during adulthood due to physical inactivity. The most interesting observation concerns lean body mass. The exercise and combination groups increased lean body mass. Those with greater level of physical activity posses greater composition of lean body mass in comparison to those do less physical activity. This indicates that physical activity improves muscle mass and bone density. Fat content of the body is significantly associated with physical activity. Athletes and other active people are less obese than the sedentary individuals. Subjects engage in greater duration in physical activities tends to deposit less fat than those who are engage for lesser time in physical activity. Mean scores of all other body components were higher in low active group than medium and highly active group. Since analysis of variance was found significant in all the variables Scheffe’s post hoc test was applied to test the inter group variability. Post hoc test revealed that variability exists between all the groups only in case of chest skin fold. Variability does not exist between medium active group and highly active group in body fat percent, fat mass, lean body mass, triceps skin fold, sum of three skin folds, sit ups and income. Variability does not exist between medium active and highly active and low active and highly active group on sub scapular skin fold, and height. Sit and reach and weight do not exhibit any variability between age groups.
Conclusions
From the above discussion on the analysis of present study it can be concluded that reduced level of physical activity (as also indicated by reduced performance in two motor fitness variables) and increased family income at higher age may be attributed to the higher body fat percent, fat mass and body weight with the progression of age.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I acknowledge the academic and financial support provided by King Fahd University of petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, making it possible for me to present the paper in the conference.
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