Physical and physiological performances in 10-year-old obese boys

Fatness generally has a negative influence on the performance of a variety of motor and cardiorespiratory fitness tests. The aim of this comparison was to analyse the effects of three grades of obesity on somatic growth, physical performance and oxygen consumption during exercise. Volunteer boys with definitely different grades of obesity were recruited for the comparison. In the group of mildly obese children (G1; n=23) BMI ranged between 24 kg.m −2 and 26 kg.m −2 ; and individual percent body fat was between 33% and 33.5%. In the case of moderate obesity (G2; n=23) BMI ranged between 26.5 kg.m −2 and 28.5 kg.m −2 ; and percent body fat was between 35% and 36%. In the extremely obese group (G3; n=20) BMI was greater than 31 kg.m −2 ; percent body fat was greater than 37.5%. Oxygen consumption during the 1,200 m run-test was measured by VIMEX-ST-type (USA) telemetric equipment.The greatest absolute aerobic power referred to the G3 boys, and the lowest oxygen consumption was characteristic of the mildly ob...