Encouraging physical fitness in Brazilian adolescents with excess weight: can they outperform their eutrophic peers in some activities?

Background There is the need to encourage physical activity (PA) among adolescents with overweight or obesity. Objectives The present study aimed to assess the relationship between health-related physical fitness (PF) and nutritional status, and to identify those activities more suited to adolescents with excess weight. Methods This cross-sectional study included 3,062 in-school adolescents, aged 10-18 years. We collected information on sex, age, weight, height, skinfold thickness, trunk height and leg length, and calculated body mass index (BMI) z-score, fat mass percentage, and peak height velocity (PHV). Participants were tested for PF by the 20-m shuttle run test (cardiorespiratory fitness); medicine ball throw and standing long jump tests (musculoskeletal fitness) and sit and reach test (flexibility). We used generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) to analyze the relationship between nutritional status and performance in the fitness tests, controlled for maturity offset and fat mass percentage. Results 1,563 (51%) were boys, mean age 12.6 years (±1.8), 22.8% were overweight and 12.5% had obesity. In both sexes, adolescents with obesity did better in the upper body strength test than their eutrophic peers. Boys with obesity had worse cardiorespiratory fitness and lower body muscular strength than eutrophic boys. Girls with obesity had similar cardiorespiratory fitness and better lower body strength than eutrophic girls. Conclusion In muscular strength fitness tests, adolescents with obesity performed similarly to, or better than, their eutrophic peers. Motivation to maintain regular PA is reinforced by positive experiences. Interventions that emphasize muscular strength PF should be developed for adolescents with obesity.