Correlates to Performance on Field Tests of Muscular Strength

Field tests of upper body muscular strength and endurance (UBMSE) are often administered to children, but little is known about the determinants of performance on these tests. Therefore the purpose of this investigation was to examine potential determinants of performance on several common field tests of UBMSE including pull-ups, flexed-arm hang, push-ups, and two types of modified pull-ups. Subjects were 56 girls, and 38 boys, ages 9 to 11 years. Potential determinants assessed were age, height, weight, gender, % fat, physical activity, and laboratory measures of muscular strength and endurance. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the laboratory measures of UBMSE failed to account for significant fractions of variance in performance on four of the five tests. However, % fat was significantly associated with performance on four of five tests. These results indicate that factors other than muscular strength and endurance account for most of the variance in performance, and that % fat appears to be a particularly important determinant of performance