The present study examined whether body composition and physical fitness differed depending on changes in sports club (SC) activity from junior high school onwards in male high school students, whose situations in sports activities tend to change.
The subjects were first-year students attending all boys’ high schools. They measured height, weight, BMI, body fat, and muscle percentage. In addition, they underwent the new physical fitness test; the total score was used as an index of physical fitness. Furthermore, to investigate sports activity, we investigated whether or not they participated in SC activity during their junior high school years and at the time of the survey (June of the first year of high school).Subjects were divided according to their SC activity experience and put into a non-participation group for not participating in either junior and high school (n=60), a junior high school participation group (n=344), a high school participation group (n=8), or a participation group for participating in both junior and high school (n=443). We conducted an analysis of variance to examine in the three groups excluding the high school participation group, the relationship between SC activity and body composition and physical fitness.
The participation group had significantly lower body fat percentage and significantly higher muscle percentage than the non-participation group and the junior high school participation group. On the other hand, physical fitness was significantly higher in the participation group than in the junior high school participation group, and significantly lower in the non-participation group compared to any other group.
SC activity for adolescents was shown to be beneficial for body composition and physical fitness. In particular, it was suggested that it is more important to continuously participate in SC activity rather than just one activity such as junior high school or high school.
