Hopkins W G, Walker N P
Department of Physiology, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Prev Med. 1988 Nov;17(6):764-73. doi: 10.1016/0091-7435(88)90094-1.
The understanding of the term "physical fitness" was determined for a randomly selected sample (n = 94) of a population using a self-administered mailed questionnaire. Subjects were asked to state and give a reason for their perceived level of physical fitness, to state their perceived performance level in a number of physical fitness tests (muscular strength, daily physical work capacity, fatness, level of regular physical exercise, exercise speed, and body flexibility), and to rate how well these tests measure physical fitness. The reason most frequently stated for perceived level of physical fitness was the level of habitual physical activity (43%); significantly less frequently (P less than 0.01-0.0001) cited were reasons related to health (23%), physical performance (12%), and obesity (3%). The variation in perceived level of physical fitness was best explained by the variation in imagined regular exercise and fatness (r2 = 0.66, P less than 0.0001) with no significant additional contribution from imagined performance in remaining fitness tests. The measurement of regular exercise was most favored as a test of physical fitness. These results, taken together with evidence of the physical and psychological health benefits of regular exercise, imply that the most appropriate measure of physical fitness for the average person is an assessment of the habitual physical activity level.
通过一份自行填写的邮寄问卷，对随机抽取的某人群样本（n = 94）进行了关于“体能”一词理解的调查。受试者被要求说明并给出他们对自己体能水平的看法及理由，说明他们在多项体能测试（肌肉力量、日常体力工作能力、肥胖程度、定期体育锻炼水平、运动速度和身体柔韧性）中的自我认知表现水平，并对这些测试对体能的测量效果进行评分。对于自我认知的体能水平，最常提及的理由是习惯性身体活动水平（43%）；与健康相关的理由（23%）、身体表现（12%）和肥胖（3%）被提及的频率明显较低（P小于0.01 - 0.0001）。自我认知的体能水平差异最好由想象中的定期锻炼和肥胖程度差异来解释（r2 = 0.66，P小于0.0001），其余体能测试中的想象表现没有显著的额外贡献。定期锻炼的测量被认为是最适合作为体能测试的项目。这些结果，再加上定期锻炼对身心健康有益的证据，意味着对普通人来说，最恰当的体能衡量标准是对习惯性身体活动水平的评估。
