RESEARCH ARTICLE


Body Composition and Cardiorespiratory Response of Male and Female Soldiers during a Simulated Attack Maneuver



José Fernando Jiménez Díaz1, *, Domingo Jesús Ramos Campo1, Jacobo Ángel Rubio Arias1, Fernando Martínez Sánchez1, Paula Esteban García1, Vicente Javier Clemente-Suárez1, José Gerardo Villa Vicente2
1 Department of Physical Activity and Sports Science, Sports Science Faculty, University of Castilla la Mancha Toledo, Spain
2 Department of Physical Activity and Sports Science, Sports Science Faculty, University of León, León, Spain


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Creative Commons License
© 2014 Jiménez Díaz et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Avd Carlos III s/n. Campus Tecnológico. Edificio 12.1. Laboratorio de Rendimiento y Readaptación Deportiva. Facultad de Ciencias del Deporte. Universidad de Castilla la Mancha. Toledo, España; E-mail: josefernando.jimenez@uclm.es


Abstract

The study of organic response during combat is poorly reported in specific literature, despite being essential to improve soldiers training. The aim of the present research was to study the body composition and organic response during a treadmill test simulating the attack maneuver of a light infantry company, studying the differences between soldiers gender. Body composition and organic response in the treadmill test were analyzed in 27 healthy professional soldiers. Body weight was lower and fat mass was higher in female soldiers, and height and muscle mass were higher in male soldiers. In treadmill test, values of maximal oxygen uptake (VO2), oxygen uptake at anaerobic threshold and maximal heart rate (HR) and HR at anaerobic threshold, were higher in male soldiers (male vs. female: 51.9±1.2 vs. 50.4±1.3 ml/kg/min; 3278.9±93.9 vs. 2721.8 ml/min; 194.2±1.9 vs. 184.0±6.6 bpm; 181.3±1.8 vs. 171.4±1.7 bpm respectively). During simulated attack maneuver female soldiers presented lower VO2 and higher HR than male soldiers, showing a worse physical fitness level. These data could be used by military coach to improve specific combat training. It is also recommended a decrease in the weigh carried by soldiers and to improve their aerobic performance to maximize the efficiency in last phases of combat maneuvers.

Keywords: Army, body mass index, fat mass, infantry, soldier, maximal oxygen uptake.