Physical Fitness and Body Build of Young Men and Women

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Abstract
The fitness index (FI), assessed by the Harvard Step Test, and height, weight and body fat (expressed as a percentage of body weight), were determined on young men and young women in Cape Town, South Africa, and in Richmond, Virginia. There was no significant difference in height, surface area, reciprocal ponderal index (RPI) or body fat between the two groups of men or the two groups of women, but the American men were heavier than the South Africans and both American groups had lower mean FIs than the corresponding South African groups. Only in American men were the heavier subjects less fit and the more linear (high KPI) more fit. In both groups of men, but not in women, there was highly significant negative correlation between FI and body fat. In terms of relative ectomorphy, mesomorphy and endomorphy, male, but not female, endomorphs were significantly less fit. In men who performed work on a bicycle ergometer the more obese subjects showed no impairment of work capacity with a standard work-load, but had lower FIs when the work-load was proportional to the body weight.

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