Abstract
The study aimed to characterize the daily physical activity, physical fitness, body composition and plasma metabolite concentration of middle-aged female mountain climbers. The subject of this study were middle-aged female mountain climbers (MC) belonging to the Japan Workers Alpine Federation (n=45, age=63.2±6.5yr), and women (control group) who did not regularly performed any exercise (n=76, age=66.0±4.8yr). In May 2011, each participant completed a physical activity questionnaire, and underwent a examination, anthropometric measurement and blood sampling.The study yielded the following four results:The MC tended to have a higher frequently than a control group. The BMI, waist circumference, and body fat percentage were significantly lower in the MC than the controlgroup.HDL cholesterol was significantly higher in the MC than the control group. The performance of 10-repetition, one-leg standing balance with eyes open and sit up was significantly higher in the MC than the control group. These results showed that habitual physical activity was need by the MC to maintain good physical fitness, body composition, and plasma metabolite concentration.
