Physical Fitness and Activity Assessment in Adults

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Physical Fitness and Activity Assessment in Adults
C H A P T E R
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Physical Fitness and Activity Assessment in Adults
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Objectives

• Identify and define components of health-related
  physical fitness and the risks for fitness
  testing
• Use measurements of aerobic capacity, body
  composition, and muscular fitness
• Identify test items designed for older adults
• Understand the issues with measurement of
  physical activity in all populations

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Physical Fitness

• Multifaceted objective with different meanings
  for different people
• Two factors provide the framework for defining
  physical fitness for any person
• Purpose of the tests
• Defined population

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Populations and Purposes of Physical Fitness
Testing
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Health-Related Fitness Factors and Benefits
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Supporting Evidence for Health-Related Fitness

• Epidemiology
• Examines the incidence, prevalence, and
  distribution of disease
• Relative risk
• The risk of mortality (death) or morbidity
  (disease) associated with one group compared to
  another
• (continued)

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Supporting Evidence for Health-Related Fitness
(continued)

• Physically active groups have lower relative risk
  of developing fatal cardiovascular disease (CVD)
  than sedentary groups (Caspersen 1989)
• Inverse relationship between death rates and
  cardiovascular endurance (Blair, Kohl, et al.
  1989 Blair et al. 1996 Ekelund et al. 1988)
• (continued)

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Supporting Evidence for Health-Related Fitness
(continued)

• People who suffer from obesity have higher rates
  of CVD, cancer, and diabetes (ACSM 2010)
• Inverse relationship between muscular strength,
  obesity, and all-causes mortality after
  controlling for cardiovascular endurance
  (FitzGerald et al. 2004 Jackson et al. 2010
  Ruiz et al. 2008)

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Major Risk Factors and Classifications for
Cardiovascular Disease
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Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire
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Conditions Requiring Exercise Stress Test,
Medical Exam, and Medical Supervision
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Relationship Between Cardiorespiratory Endurance
and Cardiovascular Death Rate
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Measuring Aerobic Capacity

• Aerobic power
• The ability to supply oxygen to the working
  muscles during physical activity
• Laboratory vs. field methods

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Laboratory Methods

• Maximal Oxygen Consumption (VO2max)
• Most reliable (rxx gt .80) and valid measure
• Expired gases are monitored with a gas analysis
  system during a maximal exercise performance
• Can be difficult to measure due to expensive
  equipment, exhaustive exercise performance, and
  time restrictions

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Other Laboratory Methods

• Estimating VO2max
• Maximal exercise performance
• Submaximal exercise testing
• Perceptual effort during exercise testing

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Relative Intensity Scale
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Important Facts Concerning Laboratory Testing

• Equipment should be calibrated and checked
• Test administrators should be trained and
  qualified
• Practice test
• Standardized testing procedures
• Treadmill VO2max values gt cycle ergometer tests
• Cycle ergometer test can produce artificially low
  values (most people dont ride bikes daily)
• Submaximal VO2max estimates typically have a SEE
  5.0 ml kg-1 min-1

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Field Methods

• Distance runs
• Step tests
• Rockport 1-Mile 1.6 km Walk Test
• Predicting VO2max without exercise

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Measuring Body Composition

• Obesity refers specifically to overfatness not
  overweight
• A well muscled athlete may be overweight but
  may actually be quite lean
• Measuring body composition involves estimating a
  persons percent body fat
• Body composition can be looked at as two
  components lean body mass and fat mass
• (continued)

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Measuring Body Composition (continued)

• Hydrostatic weighting
• Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA)
• Air displacement plethysmography
• CT scans and MRI
• Isotopic dilution

• Ultrasound
• Anthropometry (skinfold and girths)
• Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA)
• Total body electric conductivity (TBEC)
• Near-infrared interactance

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Calculating Body Density and Body Fat From
Hydrostatic Weighting
fat (495 BD) - 450
fat weight (fat 100) x body weight
lean weight body weight - fat weight
target weight lean weight 1 - (target
fat 100)
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Calculation of Fat, Lean, and Target Weights
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Skinfold Assessment

• Most reliable, valid, and popular field method
  for estimating body fat
• Uses skinfold calipers to measure skinfolds at
  multiple sites to estimate body fat using
  prediction equations

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Skinfold Calipers Lange
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Skinfold Calipers Harpenden
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Body Mass Index (BMI)

• Simple measure expressing the relationship of
  weight to height
• Commonly used in epidemiology research
• Acceptable for those people who are obese but may
  produce inaccurate results for people who are
  lean or of normal weight

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Disease Risk Relative to Normal Weight and Waist
Circumference
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Measuring Muscular Strength and Endurance

• Work
• Result of physical effort
• work (W) force (F) x distance (D)
• Power
• Amount of work performed in a fixed amount of
  time
• power (P) (F x D) time (T) W T
• (continued)

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Measuring Muscular Strength and Endurance
(continued)

• Muscular strength
• Force that can be generated by contracting
  muscles
• Torque
• The effectiveness of a force for producing
  rotation around an axis
• Muscular endurance
• Physical ability to perform work
• (continued)

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Measuring Muscular Strength and Endurance
(continued)

• Relative endurance
• Measurement of repetitive performance related to
  maximum strength
• Absolute endurance
• Measurement of repetitive performance at a fixed
  resistance

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Types of Contractions Measured
Concentric Muscle generates force as it shortens
Eccentric Muscle generates force as it lengthens
Isometric Muscle generates force but remains static in length and causes no movement
Isotonic Muscle generates enough force to move a constant load at a variable speed through full range of motion (ROM)
Isokinetic Muscle generates force at a constant speed through full range of motion (ROM)
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Measuring Muscular Strength and Endurance

• Laboratory methods
• Generally assed by measuring force, torque, work,
  and power generated through concentric,
  eccentric, isokinetic, and isometric contractions
• Field methods
• Assessed with concentric and isotonic contractions

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Laboratory Methods

• Computerized dynamometers
• Biodex
• Back extension strength test
• Noncomputerized dynamometers
• Handheld dynamometers (HHD)

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Manual Muscle Test

• Precursor to HHD testing
• Most often used in clinical situations to assess
  muscle strength
• Patients are given a rating from 0 to 5 based on
  their ability to move a joint through a full
  range of motion against gravity (0 no movement
  5 muscle contracts normally against full
  resistance)

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Field Measures forStrength and Endurance

• Involves lifting external weights or the
  repetitive movement of the body
• Muscular Strength 1-repetition maximum (1RM)
• Muscular Endurance Maximum number of
  repetitions with a submaximal weight load

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Field Measures forStrength and Endurance

• 1RM values of the bench press and the leg press
  (upper- and lower-body strength)
• YMCA Bench Press Test (upper-body endurance)
• Push-up test (upper-body endurance)
• (continued)

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Field Measures forStrength and Endurance
(continued)

• Trunk Endurance
• YMCA Half Sit-up Test
• Curl-up test (Robertson Magnusdottir 1987)

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Measuring Flexibility

• Range of motion of a joint or group of joints
  (flexibility is joint specific)
• Laboratory methods
• Goniometry, visual estimation, radiography,
  photography, linear measurements, trigonometry
• Field methods
• Trunk flexion (sit-and-reach) test, trunk
  extension

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The Sit-and-Reach Test
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Health-Related Fitness Batteries

• YMCA Physical Fitness Test Battery
• Canadian Standardized Test of Fitness
• The Presidents Challenge Adult Fitness Test

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YMCA Physical Fitness Test Battery

• Used by the YMCA to assess physical fitness of
  its members (Golding 2000)
• Easily adaptable to many adult physical fitness
  testing situations
• Test battery includes the following components
• Height, weight, resting heart rate, resting blood
  pressure, body composition, cardiorespiratory
  endurance, flexibility, and muscular strength and
  endurance

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Canadian Standardized Test of Fitness

• Canadian Fitness Survey conducted in 1981 to
  develop an understanding of the fitness level of
  the Canadian population
• Test battery includes the following components
• Resting heart rate, resting blood pressure, body
  composition (skinfolds), cardiorespiratory
  endurance, flexibility, abdominal endurance, and
  upper-body strength and endurance

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The Presidents Challenge Adult Fitness Test

• Online adult fitness self-test www.adultfitnesstes
  t.org
• Designed to be self-administered however, a
  partner is needed to complete
• Test battery includes the following components
• Aerobic fitness, body composition, muscular
  strength and endurance, and flexibility

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Physical Fitness Assessment in Older Adults

• Defined as persons aged 65 years and over
• Highest rates of chronic diseases
• Health care costs for older adults are
  contributing to health financing problems
• Studies show that older adults respond to
  appropriate endurance and strength training
  programs similar to younger adults

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Fitness Parameters and Items of the Older Adult
Fitness Test
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Special Populations

• Include people with physical or mental
  disabilities or both
• Valid and reliable fitness assessment of adults
  with disabilities is not a well-researched or
  well-understood topic
• Fitness assessment should include these
• Anaerobic power, aerobic capacity,
  electrocardiographic response to exercise,
  muscular fitness, and body composition

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Measuring Physical Activity

• Physical activity (PA)
• The behavior of bodily movement that requires the
  contraction of muscles and the expenditure of
  energy
• Roles of measurement in PA
• Amount of PA, amount of sedentary behavior, role
  of PA in health status, factors that relate to PA
  behavior, and the effect of interventions to
  promote PA

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The Relationship of Health-Related Fitness to the
Physical Activity Pyramid
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Physical Activity Assessment inAge Groups of the
Population
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Single-Response Physical Activity Scale (Five
Levels)
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Steps per Day as Indices for Public Health for
Adults (Tudor-Locke Bassett 2004)
lt5000 Sedentary lifestyle index
5000-7499 Low active
7500-9999 Somewhat active
10,000 Active
12,000 Very active
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Measuring Muscle-Strengthening Physical Activity

• Adults should engage in moderate- or
  high-intensity muscle-strengthening activities on
  2 or more days a week in seven major muscle
  groups (Healthy People 2020 2008 Physical
  Activity Guidelines)
• Muscle-strengthening activities have numerous
  health benefits in addition to those provided by
  regular physical activity
• Increased bone mass, improved posture, improved
  glucose tolerance, ability to conduct daily
  activities, and increased resting metabolism

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Certification Programs

• Health Fitness Certifications
• ACSM Certified Group Exercise Instructor
• ACSM Certified Personal Trainer (CPT)
• ACSM Certified Health Fitness Specialist (HFS)
• Clinical Certifications
• ACSM Certified Clinical Exercise Specialist (CES)
• ACSM Registered Clinical Exercise Physiologist
  (RCEP)
• National Strength and Conditioning Association
• Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
  (CSCS)
• NSCA-Certified Personal Trainer (NSCA-CPT)

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Summary

• Various factors are involved in assessing adult
  fitness and physical activity reliably and
  validly
• Mastering the material does not make you
  qualified to administer (but its an important
  step)
• Seek out appropriate education and training to
  obtain certifications