J Community Nutrition 5(1)：29 ~ 36, 2003 □ Original Article □ Correlation between BMI and Physical Fitness

This study investigated the correlation of the physical measurements and the basic physical fitness of 158 female students in the city of Seoul. The average age of the subjects was 22.0 ± 0.13 years old, the average height was 160.9 ± 0.7cm and the average weight was 53.4 ± 0.6kg. The mean BMI(Body Mass Index) was 20.7±0.2kg/m2. The average muscle mass was 36.5 ± 0.3 and the average body fat percentage was 28.0 ± 0.4%. The basic fitness levels of the subjects were measured based on the evaluation chart of the Korea Health and Science Research Institution (1994). The subjects were divided into 3 groups based on BMI(Group I：BMI < 20, Group II：20 ≤ BMI < 25, Group III：BMI ≥ 25) and the correlation between BMI and physical fitness was assessed. 1) The muscle strength of the subjects was measured by their grip strength, among other tests. Groups 1 and 2 were evaluated as “su”(level 1) and group 3 was “woo”(level 2). 2) Endurance 1 was tested by push-ups, and while groups 1 and 2 were evaluated as “su” (level 1), group 3 was “ga”(level 5). This result did not suggest any significant relevance among the subjects. 3) En-durance 2 was tested by sit-ups；groups 1 and 2 were evaluated as “mi”(level 3) and group 3 as “yang”(level 4). Group 2 and group 3 showed a significant difference. 4) Instant power was tested by standing high jumps, and although there was a significant difference between group 1 and group 3, all of the subjects were evaluated as “ga”(level 5). 5) Flexibility was measured by how far the subjects could bend forward. There was no significant relevance between th