COMPARATIVE STUDIES OF ANTHROPOMETRIC, PHYSICAL AND CARDIORESPIRATORY FITNESS OF PREPUBERTAL, PUBERTAL AND POSTPUBERTAL CHILDREN

Abstract

The sports talent may be identified from the children of prepubertal, pubertal and postpubertal age group (10-16 yrs). In view of the above, a study was undertaken to investigate the anthropometric, physical and cardiorespiratiory fitness of prepubertal, pubertal and postpubertal children. A total of 120 male children of 10-16 yrs age volunteered for this study; were divided equally into 3 groups (i) Prepubertal (age-11.0 ± 0.8yrs, n=40); (ii) Pubertal (age 13.5 ± 0.5 yrs, n=40); (iii) Postpubertal (age 15.5 ± 0.5 yrs, n=40). Selected anthropometric, physical and cardiorespiratiory fitness variables were measured for each group. ANOVA followed by multiple comparison tests were performed to find out the significant difference among the groups. A significantly (P<0.05) greater height, body mass, BSA, lean body mass (LBM), mid upper arm circumference (MUAC), hip and trunk flexibility, grip strengths, abdominal strength, elastic leg strength, maximum speed, peak power, VO2max, peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) and blood pressure were observed in Postpubertal children when compared to Prepubertal and Pubertal children. On the other hand, a significantly (P<0.05) lower percent body fat, reaction time, maximal heart rate (HRmax) and recovery heart rates were noted in Postpubertal children when compared to Prepubertal and Pubertal children. The waist- hip ratio (WHR) of pubertal children was noted significantly higher (P<0.05) when compared to prepubertal and postpurbertal children. However, no significant change was reported in BMI and resting heart rate among the groups. The study may be beneficial to identify the sports talent among prepubertal, pubertal and postpubertal (10-16 yrs) children