A New Method to Evaluate Effect of Body Mass Index and Gender Factors on Maximal Aerobic Power

Abstract

Maximal aerobic power is a valuable, meaningful and motivational physiological measurement which fitness professionals and coaches use in order to the track progress of their clients. Variety of effective factors on maximal aerobic power makes it slightly unspecified to measure. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of body mass index and gender factors on maximal aerobic power using a new method of measurement. 32 male and female university students were randomly selected for this purpose. An F-test has been done to check the mean equality of each level of the factors and their interactions. For the multiple comparisons, the Fisher least significant difference method has been used and by using operating characteristic curve the correct sample size was estimated. The results shows a significant effect of body mass index (p=0.001) however, there is no powerful evidence of gender effect on the study (p=0.851) and on the same hand the interaction of factors was found insignificant (p=0.429). Multiple comparisons presented a very significant reduction of maximal aerobic power on the obese participants, although, other levels display insignificant difference. Four numbers of replications were enough for the sample size. Compared to previous researches, gender factor does not affect the result of our study, however, the multi-nationality of the participants may prompt a different outcome.