Physical Fitness Among Adolescents Who are Hispanic With Overweight or Obesity

Purpose:To describe cardiorespiratory, strength, muscular endurance, and flexibility fitness outcomes in a sample of adolescents who are Hispanic aged 11 to 15 years with overweight or obesity, stratified by age and sex. Methods:The sample included 280 adolescents (mean age: 13.0 & PLUSMN; 0.83 years, mean body mass index percentile: 94.6). Anthropometric measures included height, weight, body mass index percentile, and waist and hip circumference. Fitness measures included handgrip strength, sit-ups in 60 seconds, sit-and-reach test, and 6-minute walk test. We report mean scores for each fitness outcome measure and correlation coefficients with anthropometric measures. Results:Mean handgrip was 23.7 & PLUSMN; 6.48 kg, sit-and-reach test was 25.3 & PLUSMN; 8.13 cm, average sit-ups in 60 seconds were 19.4 & PLUSMN; 9.28, and 6-minute walk distance was 1960 & PLUSMN; 271 ft. Males outperformed females in all tests except sit-and-reach test. Discussion:Compared with published fitness values of healthy weight adolescents, our sample of adolescents who are Hispanic with overweight/obesity living in southern Florida is unconditioned in terms of cardiorespiratory fitness, strength, muscular endurance, and flexibility.

Automated summary

The purpose of this study was to examine the fitness outcomes of cardiorespiratory, strength, muscular endurance, and flexibility in Hispanic adolescents aged 11 to 15 years with overweight or obesity, stratified by age and sex. The results showed that the sample of adolescents in southern Florida had poor fitness levels compared to healthy weight adolescents, indicating a lack of cardiorespiratory fitness, strength, muscular endurance, and flexibility.