title: Assessment of aerobic fitness and its correlates in Omani adolescents using the 20-metre shuttle run test: A pilot study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess aerobic fitness in male and female adolescents using the multistage 20-metre shuttle run test and correlate it with selected fitness variables.
  
  
  METHODS
  The subjects comprised 83 girls and 64 boys aged 15-16 years, randomly selected from two segregated government schools in Muscat. After the pupils filled in a short questionnaire on their personal leisure time activities of the preceding week, their heights and weights were measured. Aerobic fitness was assessed by estimating each pupil's minimal oxygen uptake levels (VO2max) using the multistage 20-metre shuttle running test (20-MST).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Boys spent more time than girls on leisure physical activities, television, computer and video games and the Internet. The estimated VO2max in both boys and girls showed high correlation with their weekly physical activities. The time spent on television and computer negatively correlated with VO2max in girls but not in boys. Girls had higher body mass index (BMI) and less VO2max compared to boys; BMI showed a negative correlation with VO2max in girls but not in boys.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Aerobic fitness in this sample was higher in boys than in girls and was strongly influenced by weekly physical activities in both genders. The 20-MST has proved a simple and inexpensive field test for aerobic fitness that could be implemented on a wide scale.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Physiology and.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Al Barwani
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Al Abri
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Al Hashmi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Al Shukeiry
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tahlilkar
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Al Zuheibi
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Al Rawas
authors.forename: M O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Hassan
keywords: Oman; VO2max; adolescent; aerobic fitness; leisure time activities; shuttle run test
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