1.

Title Page

Sijie Tan, Cheng Chen, Mingyang Sui, Lunan Xue, Jianxiong Wang (2017). Exercise

Training Improved Body Composition, Cardiovascular Function, and Physical

Fitness of 5-Year-Old Children with Obesity or Normal Body Mass. Pediatric

Exercise Science, 29(2); 245-253.

Amanda Jensen

Physiological Kinesiology – PHED 350

Physical Fitness in Children (5-13yrs)

2. Problem and Purpose Statement

Obesity is a serious epidemic that affects not only adults but children as well. The

purpose of this study was to observe how exercise can affect children, specifically

5-year-olds, both obese and with normal body mass. The components being

observed were body composition, cardiovascular function, and physical fitness.

3. Methods or Procedures

104 5-yr-old children, 42 obese (23 girls, 19 boys) and 62 normal body mass (28

girls, 34 boys) were chosen at random and separated into a control group and

exercise group. Measurements were taken before and after the experiment for

body composition, cardiovascular function, and physical fitness. Body

composition was measured using body mass, body fat% (by BIA), BMI, and waist

circumference. Cardiorespiratory function was measured using a child’s

performance of a 20-m shuttle run as well as a squat test (30 squats in 30s),

taking HR post exercise. Physical fitness was measured using the following tests:

hand grip, sit-and-reach, 10-m x 4 shuttle run, standing long jump, two-legged

jumps, tennis ball throw, and a 3-m balance beam walk. The exercise group

participated in a 10-week program of five 1-hour sessions per week at moderate

intensity (50% HRR). Each session included a 10-minute warm-up, 40 minutes of

exercise (quick walking, slow running, jumping, rope skipping, semisquatting, or

slow crawling), and a 10-minute cool-down. HR monitors were used to control

exercise intensity.

4. Results

In both obese and lean children, the exercise training showed a decrease in the

following areas: fat mass, body fat percentage, waist circumference and BMI.

Lean children improved in areas of physical fitness while obese children showed

significant changes – decrease in systolic BP and HR response; growth rate of

body mass slowed down as well. Their performance in the long jump, balance

beam walk, and shuttle run also improved.

5. Criticism

I felt this was a worthwhile investigation because so little research has been done

on exercise among 5-yr-olds. It is interesting to see that exercise can affect any

body at any age. The findings are practical due to a thorough test battery

consisting of many fitness components and the variety of exercises given to

measure improvement in CRE, MSE, flexibility, and body composition. Proper

procedure was followed by accounting for testing conditions. There was at least

one day for recovery between cardiovascular training and physical fitness.