The inter-relationships of physical activity, physical fitness, and body measurements

Abstract

While several measures of physical activity have been used in research, it is not clear how these measures relate to each other or to measures of fitness and fatness. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships of three commonly used indicators of physical activity to determine how they relate to each other as well as to measures of physical fitness and anthropometric measurements related to body fatness. Data from white adult men working for U.S. railroad companies in 1957 to 1960, who were free of pre-existing cardiovascular disease (N = 2,356), were used to study these relationships cross-sectionally. Total and intense leisure time activity and occupational activity were directly related to caloric intake. Total leisure time activity was inversely related to exercise test heart rate and directly related to body mass index, but not related to resting heart rate or skinfold thickness. Intense leisure time activity was significantly related to all fitness measures and not significantly related to fatness. Caloric intake was directly related to measures of fitness and inversely related to fatness. Occupational activity was directly related to measures of fitness and body mass index, and inversely related to skinfold thickness. These results provide a better understanding of methods appropriate to ascertaining physical activity in epidemiologic research as well as assisting in the comparison of results from studies which have used different physical activity indicators.