JOURNAL OF SPORTS SCIENCE & MEDICINE
http://www.jssm.org
 

Book review  


PEDIATRIC FITNESS: SECULAR TRENDS AND GEOGRAPHIC VARIABILITY

Editor: Grant R. Tomkinson and Timothy S. Olds
Bibliographic Data: ISSN 0254-5020, ISBN 978-3-80558177-6; Karger Publishing, 2007, $180.00, 245 pages, hardcover.
Subjects: Aerobic and anaerobic fitness of children around the world.
Reviewed by: Fadil Özyener, MD, PhD, Uludag University Medical School, Bursa, Turkey.


© Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2007) 6, 267
DESCRIPTION
This book describes and discusses children's physical capacity in terms of aerobic and anaerobic power generation according to secular trends and geographic variability.

PURPOSE
To discuss the controversial issue of whether present day's children and adolescents are fitter than their equals of the past and whether they are fitter if they live in the more prosperous countries.

AUDIENCE
Pediatricians, medical practitioners, physical educators, exercise and/or sport scientists, exercise physiologists, personal trainers and graduate students in relevant fields will find this book helpful when dealing with contemporary trends and geographic variability in pediatric fitness.

FEATURES

The volume starts by examining the general picture on children fitness by the editors. The individual chapter's authors discuses the data gathered since the late 1950s on secular trends and geographic changeability in aerobic and anaerobic pediatric fitness performances of children and adolescents from 23 countries in Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, the Middle East and North America. There are chapters proposing that there is proof that there has been a world-wide decline in pediatric aerobic performance in recent decades, relative stability in anaerobic performance, and that the best performing children come from northern and central Europe. In final chapters possible causes to that end are considered, including whether weakening in aerobic performance are the result of distributional or widespread declines, and whether increases in obesity alone can explain the failure in aerobic performance.


ASSESSMENT
The editors have assembled a volume of Medicine and Sports Science that is necessary and essential reading for all who are interested in understanding and improving the fitness of children. The readers will find useful information in this book on secular trends and geographic variability in pediatric fitness. I believe, the book will serve as a first-rate reference source for researcher and field workers, since the editors and the contributors are authorities in their respective fields.


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