Evaluation of possible anthropometric advantage in Sit-Up test

Abstract

The players of Pro Football Academy are as part of its quarterly-annual physical fitness in order to assess the abdominal muscular endurance of service-members. However, there is speculation that sit-up performance may be associated with anthropometric proportions thereby affording certain service-members with a biomechanical advantage. To test this theory, anthropometric measurements were taken at various sites (i.e., humerus, torso, femur, and tibia) across a convenience sample of 30 male participants to include players from the Pro Football Academy. Humerus length (r = .297), tibia length (r = .385) and sex (r = .314) were all found to be moderately correlated with sit-up performance. These findings, coupled with well-documented concerns of the sit-ups in terms of safety and relevance in the literature, make a compelling argument for the identification and implementation of other potential field tests to assess abdominal muscular endurance.