Erasmus plus - Stretching and Strengthening at Work interact

Stretching and Strengthening at Work

can measure with bathroom scale, several other indicators can tell much more about health and fitness. For example, body mass index (BMI) is an indirect measure of body composition used to assess weight relative to height. Body composition is defined as the relative proportion of fat and fat-free tissue in the body. Calculating BMI compares an individual’s weight to their height, and categorize each person as normal-weight, underweight or overweight ( Figure 8 ). The formula is BMI = kg/m 2 where kg is a person’s weight in kilograms and m 2 is their height in meters squared.

Underweight < 18.5 kg/m 2

Optimal 18.5 - 25 kg/m 2

Overweight 25 - 30 kg/m 2

Obese > 30 kg/m 2

BMI

BMI

BMI

BMI

Figure 8 | Body mass index (BMI) classification. Thewaist circumference (WC) is another indirectmeasure of body composition. Excessive abdominal fat may be a serious issue because it places a person at greater risk for developing obesity-related conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and coronary artery disease ( National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion , 2020). WC is measured with a simple non-stretching tape as the smallest waist circumference above the umbilicus or navel. Sex- specific cutoffs for WC ( Figure 9 ) can be used to identify increased risk associated with abdominal fat, particularly in adults with BMI > 25 kg/m 2 . An increase in waist circumference may also be associated with increased risk in persons of normal weight.

Men

Waist circumference > 102 cm

Women

Waist circumference > 88 cm

Figure 9 | Waist circumference cut-off points.

Cardiorespiratory fitness Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is related to the ability to perform large muscle, dynamic, moderate- to-high intensity exercise for prolonged periods. CRF reflects the functional capabilities of the heart, blood vessels, blood, lungs, and relevant muscles during various types of exercise demands. Specifically, CRF affects numerous responses at rest, in response to moderate and maximal exercise, and during prolonged work. It can be assessed by various techniques and has many synonyms, including maximal aerobic capacity, functional capacity, maximal oxygen consumption or cardiorespiratory endurance. Lower levels of CRF are related with poor metabolic health, increased prevalence of lifestyle disease and other disadvantageous health outcomes ( Figure 10 ) (Myers and co-workers , 2019).

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