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Per Cent Body Fat Alone is a Poor Predictor of Physical Fitness
Abstract
It is apparent that per cent body fat is poorly correlated with aerobic exercise performance. This is especially evident in the potentially large group of moderate exercisers which would have the greatest impact on military fitness programs. When employing a measure of performance and aerobic fitness, predictive methods such as the 1.5 mile or twelve minute run, demonstrate strong correlations across all groups. These methods, therefore, appear much better predictors statistically and should prove more useful. There is no substitute for direct aerobic performance testing in the evaluation of physical fitness.
... Turning to the body of literature that establishes the relationship between BF and physical fitness, %BF was found to be moderately related to performance of physical tasks (Harmen & Frykman, 1992;Hodgdon, 1992;Jette, Sidney, & Lewis, 1990;Conway, Cronan, & Peterson, 1989;Slack, Ferguson, & Banta, 1985). This finding is particularly relevant to military policy as most of the studies cited were conducted using military subjects. ...
This report describes the assessment of Perceptions of Wellness and Readiness (POWR) among active-duty Navy and Marine Corps personnel. Supported by the Defense Women's Health Research Program, the purpose of this study was to obtain baseline prevalence and risk factor information on a representative sample of active-duty Navy and Marine Corps women and men worldwide and to provide relevant comparative data with civilian populations. The POWR Assessment consisted of three separate, but complementary components. The first and most comprehensive component was a large-scale survey in which respondents completed an in-depth self-report questionnaire that assessed six key issues, including reproductive health, medical history and nutritional status, mental health, lifestyle issues, occupational/environmental risks, and health services issues. This questionnaire study was based on a probability sample of approximately 10,000 active-duty Navy and Marine Corps personnel. The second component consisted of physical measurements taken on a subsample of approximately 1,200 respondents to the main survey. The third component was a telephone interview drawn from volunteers responding to the main survey. This report includes background about the study and discussions of the sampling design, the data collection instruments, data collection methods, sample weighting and estimation procedures, and preliminary results.
The United States Military deploys its forces with minimal lead time. These forces must be medically qualified and physically fit for any locale and mission scenario. Historically, up to half of the force identified for deployment at any given time were not medically qualified. Matching individuals to specific occupations using validated medical and physical performance standards is an occupational medicine tenet that increases the effectiveness and efficiency of the workforce. To establish a cost-effective, valid medical program ensuring a fit and ready force, the military must: (1) develop validated physical fitness/occupational standards; (2) consolidate one fitness standard for males/females on the basis of workload requirements; (3) eliminate differing age standards; (4) provide statistically relevant medical screening, testing for health maintenance, and fitness for duty; and (5) mandate one joint medical standard for all military services.
All U.S. Navy service members are required to meet percent body fat (%BF) standards as a condition of military service. Naval personnel who exceed standards for %BF can be separated from active duty. Currently, %BF predictions are determined by circumference measurements and a prediction equation (circumference equation = CEQ). In view of the importance these prediction results have for personnel retention, a validation study was undertaken to determine the accuracy of %BF prediction for a population determined to be overfat by the CEQ. The population for the validation study comprised men with 22%BF or greater and women with 30%BF or greater. Values for %BF were determined for 49 men and 50 women by hydrostatic weighing (HW) and circumference measurements at the Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory (NSMRL) using a regression equation developed at the Naval Health Research Center (NHRC), San Diego, California. The HW and CEQ values were compared to a superset of the original NHRC population. The correlation coefficients for the NSMRL validation group were lower than those reported in the original NHRC group. The results are attributed to the restricted range of NSMRL data and greater error of prediction at extreme ranges of values. A medical diagnostic model was used to evaluate the sensitivity, specificity, and predictive value of CEQ. It shows that the Navy's current procedures produce a 6.8 to 18% false positive rate for individuals declared as having excess body fat. The data suggest that caution should be utilized when using the CEQ method for individual career decisions.
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