This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Adolescent strength appears tied to body weight
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Increasing adolescent body weight was negatively associated with measures of strength such as body weight exercises and positively associated with measures that did not involve lifting the body, according to recent study findings in Pediatrics.
R. Bethene Ervin, PhD, RD, of the National Center for Health Statistics, and colleagues assessed core, upper and lower body strength in American children aged 6 to 15 years. Data were collected from 1,224 children who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey’s 2012 National Youth Fitness Survey. Strength scores were determined by four muscular strength tests: plank, modified pull-up, knee extension and grip strength. Weight status was defined by the CDC’s gender-specific BMI-for-age growth charts.
Most children (62.7%) were normal or underweight, 18.2% were overweight and 19% were obese. There were no significant gender differences in age or BMI distributions of participants.
As age increased, both boys and girls were able to hold the plank position longer. As weight status increased, length of time plank was held decreased. Normal-weight girls held the plank for 76.3 seconds vs. 59.6 seconds among overweight girls and 37.8 seconds among obese girls. Normal-weight boys held the plank for 83 seconds, whereas overweight and obese boys held the plank for 69.6 and 43.9 seconds, respectively.
Older boys completed more pull-ups than younger boys. Number of modified pull-ups did not differ by age among girls. As weight status increased, the number of pull-ups and modified pull-ups decreased among boys and girls.
Regarding the knee extension test, both boys and girls produced more force as they got older. Girls’ and boys’ performance on the knee extension test significantly differed when aged 15 years. Conversely, scores on knee extension test increased as weight status increased.
Grip strength test performance among boys and girls increased as age increased. Children were able to achieve more pounds or kilograms of force on the combined grip strength test as they got older. Performance differed between genders when aged 13 and 14 years.
“Consistent with other research, gender, age and weight status were all important predictors of performance on measures of muscle strength, but their impact varied with the test performed,” the study researchers wrote.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts