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Changes in physical activity, maximal isometric strength and maximal oxygen uptake from late teenage to adulthood: an eight‐year follow‐up study of adolescents in Denmark
Author(s) -
Andersen L. B.,
Haraldsdóttir J.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of medicine and science in sports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.575
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1600-0838
pISSN - 0905-7188
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0838.1994.tb00401.x
Subject(s) - isometric exercise , medicine , vo2 max , blue collar , demography , physical therapy , body weight , heart rate , labour economics , sociology , blood pressure , economics
A randomly selected group of 88 men and 115 women, aged 23–27 years in 1991, were tested as teenagers in 1983, and then followed‐up in 1991. A mean increase of 15% in maximal voluntary isometric strength was found in men, and no change was found in women over the 8 years. Body weight increased 14% in men and 6% in women. Strength in relation to body weight (N · kg −1 ) did not change in men, but a small decrease of 3% was found in women. Strength in abdominal muscles decreased in blue‐collar workers but increased in students. Maximal oxygen uptake (V̇ o2max (ml · min −1 kg −1 ) decreased 9% in men and 3% in women. The values in 1991 were 47.9 and 39.5 ml · min −1 kg −1 for men and women, respectively. Participation in leisure sport activities decreased 1.7 h · week −1 in men and 1.2 h · week −1 in women. Seventy percent of the men and 74% of the women participated in regular leisure sport activity, which was a marked increase from 8 years before, when only 54% of the men and 57% of the women were similarly active. The overall decrease in V̇ O2max in men was due primarily to a decrease among blue‐collar workers and unemployed men: 19% vs 4% in other occupational groups. Only 20% of the blue‐collar workers participated in sport activities for more than 4 h · week −1 , and 47% did not participate at all. In women, changes in strength and V̇ O2max were related to motherhood. Abdominal muscle strength decreased, but arm flexor strength increased in women who had become mothers. V̇ O2max decreased 14% in mothers vs 2% in other women. Changes over 8 years in V̇ O2max and strength did not relate to changes in physical activity, but a significant relationship between decrease in physical activity and gain in body fat was found in men. Changes in body weight and body fat were the only variables that correlated with changes in strength. None of the observed changes related to changes in V̇ O2max (ml · min −1 kg −1 ). For the 23‐ to 27‐year‐olds, the level of physical activity assessed in h · week −1 was almost as high in women as in men.