Prediction of specific physical characteristic and fitness related variables on cardiovascular endurance among some selected uniform arm units of University Sultan Zainal Abidin, Malaysia

Abstract

Cardiovascular endurance is considered the most vital aspect of fitness due to its direct impact on human performance. For any uniform arm units to discharge their duties effectively, they need to meet up to the requirement of highest physical fitness level in respective of their body characteristics. This study aims to predict the relationship of physical characteristics and fitness variables on cardiovascular endurance performance among armed uniform package unit of Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin. A total of 26 participants mean age and standard deviation of (±20.45 and 2.0) randomly selected from the three co-arm units of the university took part in this study. Standard physical characteristics measurement and fitness tests were conducted, and multiple linear regression was applied to predict their cardiovascular endurance performance as the dependent variables on their body characteristics and performance of physical fitness as the independent variable. A significant regression equation was obtained F (9, 16) = 4.97, p < 0.05, R2 = 0.74 indicating that the model accounted for approximately 74% variability of the whole data set. Sensitivity prediction analysis of the contributions of each variable revealed that height, speed, agility, upper body strength and core body strength are factors to cardiovascular endurance p < 0.05 while, weight, waist circumference, neck circumference and flexibility were not predictors to cardiovascular endurance p > 0.05. To improve the cardiovascular performance of uniform arm units, certain physical and fitness variables have to be considered for an effective discharge of their duties.