The relationship between adherence to the Mediterranean Diet (MD) and both physical fitness (PF) and physical activity (PA) level has been analysed in several studies. The aim of this research was to describe, compare and analyse the level of PF and PA in schoolchildren aged 6-13 in the Region of Murcia, according to adherence to the MD. A descriptive and cross-sectional study was performed. A total of 370 schoolchildren (44.9% girls) aged 6-13 (8.7 ± 1.8) from six primary schools in the Region of Murcia (Spain). Mediterranean Diet Quality Index for children and teenagers (KIDMED) was used to determinate the adherence to the MD. The ALPHA-FIT Test Battery was applied for assess body composition and PF. PA level was determined using Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children (PAQ-C). Only 25.9% of the schoolchildren had optimal adherence to the MD. Regarding the scores of the different PF tests in MD groups, only statistically significant differences were found for cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) (p = 0.048) in boys. PA level showed statistically significant differences in both boys (p = 0.040) and girls (p = 0.016). A positive relationship was found between the KIDMED and PA level (p = 0.235). A higher probability of having a greater CRF (OR = 1.17; CI = 1.02-1.34) and PA level (OR = 7.84; CI = 2.84-21.60) was found in high MD group. These results suggest that an optimal adherence to the MD is associated with higher CRF and PA level in the selected schoolchildren.

The aim of the study was to assess the feasibility and reliability of physical fitness field tests used in the "Fuprecol kids" study among Colombian preschool children aged 3-5 years. A total of 90 preschoolers aged 3-5 years participated in the study. Weight, height, waist circumference, cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), musculoskeletal fitness (handgrip strength and standing broad jump), speed-agility (4 × 10 m shuttle run), and flexibility (sit and reach test) components were tested twice (two weeks apart). The feasibility of the tests (preschoolers able to complete the test) ranged from 96% in the CRF test to 100% in the musculoskeletal fitness, speed-agility, and flexibility tests. Overall, the %TEMs were 0.625% for the weight, 0.378% for the height, 1.035% for the body mass index, and 0.547 % for the waist circumference. In addition, all tests were substantial reliable, for CRF (in stages and laps, concordance correlation coefficient = 0.944 and 0.941, respectively) in both sexes and flexibility (concordance correlation coefficient = 0.949) in girls. There were no significant differences in fitness test-retest mean differences in the boys (P > 0.05), except in CRF (laps P = 0.017). In girls, there were differences in CRF (stages (P = 0.017) and laps (P= 0.013)), and flexibility (P = 0.002) variables. The results from this study indicate that the "Fuprecol kids" battery of tests, administered by physical education teachers, was reliable and feasible for measuring components of physical fitness in preschoolers in a school setting in Colombia.

Substantial evidence indicates that youth physical fitness levels are an important marker of lifestyle and cardio-metabolic health profiles and predict future risk of chronic diseases. The reliability physical fitness tests have not been explored in Latino-American youth population. This study's aim was to examine the reliability of health-related physical fitness tests that were used in the Colombian health promotion "Fuprecol study". Participants were 229 Colombian youth (boys n = 124 and girls n = 105) aged 9 to 17.9 years old. Five components of health-related physical fitness were measured: 1) morphological component: height, weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, triceps skinfold, subscapular skinfold, and body fat (%) via impedance; 2) musculoskeletal component: handgrip and standing long jump test; 3) motor component: speed/agility test (4x10 m shuttle run); 4) flexibility component (hamstring and lumbar extensibility, sit-and-reach test); 5) cardiorespiratory component: 20-meter shuttle-run test (SRT) to estimate maximal oxygen consumption. The tests were performed two times, 1 week apart on the same day of the week, except for the SRT which was performed only once. Intra-observer technical errors of measurement (TEMs) and inter-rater (reliability) were assessed in the morphological component. Reliability for the Musculoskeletal, motor and cardiorespiratory fitness components was examined using Bland-Altman tests. For the morphological component, TEMs were small and reliability was greater than 95% of all cases. For the musculoskeletal, motor, flexibility and cardiorespiratory components, we found adequate reliability patterns in terms of systematic errors (bias) and random error (95% limits of agreement). When the fitness assessments were performed twice, the systematic error was nearly 0 for all tests, except for the sit and reach (mean difference: -1.03% [95% CI = -4.35% to -2.28%]. The results from this study indicate that the "Fuprecol study" health-related physical fitness battery, administered by physical education teachers, was reliable for measuring health-related components of fitness in children and adolescents aged 9-17.9 years old in a school setting in Colombia.

Upper-body plyometric training (UBPT) is a commonly used training method, yet its effects on physical fitness are inconsistent and there is a lack of comprehensive reviews on the topic.

Health related quality of life (HRQoL) is a subjective, multidimensional and changing over time construct. When HRQoL is decreased, a child is less likely to be able to develop normally and mature into a healthy adult. Physical inactivity is a priority public health problem. Evidence suggests how even moderate levels of physical activity or high fitness levels are associated with benefits for the health in children and adolescents. The aims of this systematic review are to examine the evidence about the relationship between physical activity, sedentary behavior, and fitness with HRQoL, and estimate the effects of interventions that have tested the effectiveness of the increase of the physical activity, the improvement of the physical fitness or the avoidance of sedentary behaviors in HRQoL in healthy subjects aged under 18 years old.

The aim of this study was to provide percentile values for a cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) field test for Latin-American adolescents (34,461 girls and 38,044 boys) aged 13 to 15 years. The role of fatness parameters on the CRF level across age groups was also examined, with a focus on non-obese (healthy) and obese groups. CRF was assessed using the 20-meter shuttle run test protocol. Anthropometric parameters were measured using body mass index z-score (body mass index (BMI) z-score), BMI, waist circumference (WC), and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR). Participants were categorized according to the BMI z-score, WC, and WHtR international cut-off points as healthy and obese. Age- and sex-specific reference tables for the 3rd, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, and 97th centile scores were calculated using Cole's lambda, mu, and sigma method. The prevalence of obesity according to the BMI z-score, WC, and WHtR was 9.6%, 11.2%, and 15.0%, respectively. Across all age and sex groups, a negative association was found between relative peak oxygen uptake ( V ˙ O2peak) and BMI, WC, and WHtR. In boys and girls there were higher levels of performance across all age groups, with most apparent gains between the ages of 13 and 14 years old. Overall, participants categorized in the healthy group had shown to have significantly higher V ˙ O2peak than their obese counterparts (p < 0.001; Cohen's d > 1.0). In conclusion, our study provides age- and sex-specific reference values for CRF ( V ˙ O2peak, mL·kg-1·min-1). The anthropometric parameters were inversely associated with CRF in all ages in both sexes. The obese group had worse CRF than their healthy counterparts independent of anthropometric parameters used to determine obesity.

Background and Objectives: A deficiency exists in the criterion-referenced cut-points for field-based cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in Latin American youths. The aims of the present study were two-fold: (1) To identify the ability of CRF estimated by the 20-m shuttle-run test (20mSRT) to differentiate between "healthy" and "unhealthy" phenotypes (by adiposity) in adolescents; (2) to assess the association between obesity and relative peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) in a large and diverse sample of Latin American youths. In total, 72,505 adolescents aged between 13 and 15 years were recruited from Chile and Colombia (47.5% girls). Materials and Methods: The waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) were used to identify body adiposity markers. CRF was measured using the 20mSRT (VO2peak). Receiver operating characteristic curves and logistic regression were used to determine the discriminatory ability of CRF to predict body adiposity parameters. Results: For boys and girls, VO2peak showed a significant predictive capacity to detect body fat (area under the curve [AUC] > 0.62). The sensitivity of VO2peak was medium (>63%) for all age- and sex-specific cut-points, with optimal cut-points in 13- to 15-year olds for obesity identified as 43.77 mL·kg-1·min-1 and 38.53 mL·kg-1·min-1 in boys and girls, respectively. Conclusions: According to these cut-points, adolescents with low CRF were more likely to be obese either by WC or WHtR. The CRF cut-points can be used as quantitative markers for a healthier body in Latin American adolescents.

Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is inversely associated with mortality in apparently healthy subjects and in some clinical populations, but evidence for the association between CRF and all-cause and/or cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality in patients with established CVD is lacking. This study aimed to quantify this association.

Results from several studies show that only obese, unfit subjects, but not obese, fit subjects, are at higher mortality risk than are normal-weight fit subjects. The aim of the study was two-fold: (1) to examine the differences in C-reactive protein levels across different metabolic phenotypes (healthy and unhealthy) of weight status and (2) ascertain whether high levels of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) attenuate the association of C-reactive protein and metabolic phenotypes of weight status. This was a pooled study, which included data from three cross-sectional projects (1706 youth (921 girls) aged 12-18 years). We used a Shuttle run test to assess CRF. Adolescents were classified into six metabolic phenotypes (healthy and unhealthy) of weight status (non-overweight, overweight and obese), based on age- and sex-specific cutoff points for triglycerides, systolic blood pressure, HDL-cholesterol, glucose and body mass index. High-sensitivity assays were used to obtain the C-reactive protein as inflammatory biomarker. After adjustment for potential confounders (age, sex, pubertal stage and country), the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) shows that C-reactive protein is directly associated with metabolic phenotypes of weight status. Subjects with obesity, regardless of their metabolic profile, had higher levels of C-reactive protein Z-score. In addition, (after adjustments for potential confounders) a two-way ANCOVA showed that high levels of CRF attenuated the associations of C-reactive protein levels in metabolic healthy non-overweight and in adolescents with obesity. In conclusion, higher CRF levels may attenuate the detrimental association between obesity and C-reactive protein independently of metabolic phenotype. Findings from this study are important for prevention, clinical practice on issues associated with adiposity and metabolic disorders.

Regular exercise training is a recognized lifestyle strategy to lower resting blood pressure (BP), but little is known about substrate metabolism in population with high BP. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of 16-weeks of HIIT on body composition, BP, cardiorespiratory fitness by V . O2 max , and substrate utilization during exercise among prehypertensive and hypertensive patients with excessive adiposity. We also aimed to test the potential association between changes in cardiorespiratory fitness, substrate utilization during exercise and BP. Forty-two physically inactive overweight/obese participants participated in 16-weeks of HIIT intervention. The HIIT frequency was three times a week (work ratio 1:2:10, for interval cycling: rest period: repeated times; 80-100% of the maximum heart rate). Groups were distributed based on their baseline BP: HIIT-hypertensive (H-HTN: age 47.7 ± 12.0 years; body mass index [BMI] 30.3 ± 5.5 kg/m2; systolic [SBP]/diastolic BP [DBP] 151.6 ± 10/81.9 ± 4.2 mmHg), HIIT-pre-hypertensive (H-PreHTN: age 37.6 ± 12.0 years; BMI 31.9 ± 5.3 kg/m2; SBP/DBP 134.4 ± 3.2/74.9 ± 7.0 mmHg), and a normotensive control group (H-CG: age 40.7 ± 11.0 years; BMI 29.5 ± 4.2 kg/m2; SBP/DBP 117.0 ± 6.2/72.4 ± 4.1 mmHg). Anthropometry/body composition, BP, and metabolic substrate utilization during exercise (fat [FATox], carbohydrate [CHOox] oxidation, respiratory exchange ratio [RER], and V . O2 max), were measured before and after the 16-week HIIT intervention. Adjusted mixed linear models revealed a significant improved in V . O2 max were + 3.34 in the H-CG, + 3.63 in the H-PreHTN, and + 5.92 mL⋅kg-1⋅min-1, in the H-HTN group, however, the Time × Group interaction were not significant (p = 0.083). All the exercise types induced similar decreases on SBP (-8.70) in the H-HTN, (-7.14) in the H-CG, and (-5.11) mmHg in the H-PreHTN, as well as DBP levels (-5.43) mmHg in H-CG group (p = 0.032 vs. H-HTN group). At 16-week, no significant correlations were noted for the changes of blood pressure, cardiorespiratory fitness or exercise metabolism substrates outcomes. In conclusion, our results suggest that a 16-week HIIT-intervention improved V . O2 max and blood pressure BP, but these changes are independent of substrate utilization during exercise in normotensive and hypertensive participants with excessive adiposity.

There is currently a consensus about the positive effects of physical exercise on cognition. However, the exercise intensity-dependent effect on executive function remains unclear. Thus, the aim of this study was to compare the acute effects of high-intensity aerobic interval training (HIIT), progressive resistance training (PRT), or combined training (PRT + HIIT) on executive function indicators in overweight inactive adult men (aged 18-30 years old). The participants were screened and excluded for medical conditions known to impact cognitive functioning, which was measured with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) screening cognitive test. A randomised, parallel-group clinical trial was conducted among 36 adults who were randomly assigned to a HIIT (n = 12), PRT (n = 7), PRT + HIIT (n = 7), or control group (n = 10) until the energy expenditure of 400-500 kcal. Cognitive inhibition and attention capacity were examined using the Stroop test and d2 test of attention, respectively, and were obtained pre-exercise for baseline measurement and 1 min post-exercise for each exercise training modality. Cognitive inhibition measured by the Stroop test was improved after the HIIT protocol for the domains of reading by +5.89 (η2 = 0.33), colour naming +9.0 (η2 = 0.60), interference +10.1 (η2 = 0.39), and index interference +6.0 (η2 = 0.20). Additionally, the PRT + HIIT group had an increase for the reading condition of +7.1 (η2 = 0.40), colour naming +7.5 (η2 = 0.80), and interference +5.8 (η2 = 0.39). In regard to attentional capacity, the HIIT group elicited small to medium improvements in the concentration level domain of +21.7 (η2 = 0.44), total performance domain +56.6 (η2 = 0.50), and consistency domain -3.0 (η2 = 0.27). These results were similar in the PRT and PRT + HIIT groups in the concentration level and items-processed domains (P < 0.05). In conclusion, acute HIIT and PRT + HIIT sessions reported important effect sizes than PRT alone for cognitive inhibition and attention capacity. Taken together, the results suggest that even short-term exercise interventions can enhance overweight adults' executive functions.

The aim of this study was to analyse the relationship between air pollution and 24-h movement guidelines in Spanish children/adolescents.

Strong evidence shows that physical inactivity increases the risk of many adverse health conditions, including major non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular disease (CVD), metabolic syndrome, and breast and colon cancers, and shortens life expectancy. We aimed to determine the effects of moderate (MCT)- versus high-intensity interval training (HIT) on vascular function parameters in physically inactive adults. We hypothesized that individualized HIT prescription would improve the vascular function parameters more than the MCT in a greater proportion of individuals.

The role of muscular fitness (as a protecting factor for an optimal immune system) and WBC count remains unclear. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the relationship between the total count of WBC and groups based on handgrip strength and body composition. The aim of this study was to elucidate the relationship between handgrip strength and WBC count in a nationally representative sample of adolescents from the U.S.

Although evidence shows the positive health effects of physical activity, most of the adult population in Colombia are sedentary. It is, therefore, important to implement strategies that generate changes in lifestyle behaviours. This protocol describes a study in which we will compare the effects of 12 weeks of high-intensity interval training (HIIT), resistance training (RT) or combined training (HIIT + RT) on the improvement of body composition, endothelial function, blood pressure, blood lipids, and cardiorespiratory fitness in a cohort of sedentary, overweight adults (aged 30-50 years).

Breast cancer was the most common cancer in women worldwide. The aims of the current systematic review and meta-analysis are: (i) to systematically examine the effects of exercise interventions on mental wellbeing; (ii) to examine the specific effect of the type of supervised exercise and its intensity, volume and frequency on mental wellbeing; and (iii) to explore which interventions are most effective in mental wellbeing among women with breast cancer during active treatment. An electronic literature search was performed using MEDLINE (via PubMed), Embase (Ovid), and Web of Science, we identified 175 full-text articles. The 57 publications included data from 6988 participants, age ranging from 18 to 78 years (weighted mean: 50.85 years). Compared with the control conditions, exercise training programs were associated with significant reductions in anxiety (d = -0.22, I2 = 53.0%), depression (d = -0.24, I2 = 66.6%), and fatigue (d = -0.47, I2 = 69.8%), as well as increases in body image (d = 0.27, I2 = 69.2%) and quality of life (overall, d = 0.46, I2 = 71.6%; emotional function, d = 0.33, I2 = 65.7%; and FACT-B, d = 0.60, I2 = 76.2%). There were a variety of frequencies, intensities, and durations of supervised exercise programs reported in the included meta-analytic approach. In addition, we found that concomitant concurrent training, at moderate-to-vigorous intensity, and with a volume ≥50 min/week had benefits on a number of health outcomes, such as fatigue, depression, and quality of life measure by the FACT-B instrument. These findings have important implications for healthcare providers and multidisciplinary teams involved in mental health management in cancer patients during active treatment.

A considerable proportion of contemporary youth have a high risk of obesity-related disorders such as cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Although there is consistent evidence for the positive effects of physical activity on several health aspects, most adolescents in Colombia are sedentary. It is, therefore, important to implement strategies that generate changes in lifestyle. The HEPAFIT study aims to examine whether a 6-month exercise program has benefits for hepatic fat content and cardiovascular health outcomes among overweight/obese adolescents from Bogotá, Colombia.