Does BMI negatively impact performance in local muscular endurance, sprint performance and metabolic power in police

PURPOSE:
Body mass index (BMI) is an anthropometric measure used to assess body mass in relation to height. Studies on police officers (PO) have shown associations between BMI and physical performance, injury rate and health. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate if an increased BMI influenced a PO’s basic physical abilities, and if so, what the nature of the influence was.METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was used. The sample included 284 participants divided in three groups relative to BMI: Normal – BMI≤24.9, Overweight – BMI=25-29.9 and Obese – BMI≥30. The main characteristics were: Normal (n=66, age=31.79±3.35yrs, Body Mass (BM)=71.03±6.92 kg, Body Height (BH)=174.08±6.52 cm); Overweight (n=132, age=31.99±4.13yrs, BM=82.58±7.45 kg BH=173.77±6.00 cm); Obese (n=86, age=31.59±4.13yrs, BM=100.44±13.27 kg, BH=173.33±7.24 cm. Sprinting speed, local muscular endurance and metabolic power were tested using a test battery consisting of a 50m sprint (50m), 1-minute Push-ups (PU), and Sit-ups (SU) and an 800m run (800m). Analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA) with Bonferroni post-hock analysis was used to investigate the differences between the groups in physical abilities, with the significance level set at p<0.05.RESULTS: Normal and Overweight groups were significantly better then Obese in 50m (-0.99 sec, p<0.001, and -0.64 sec, p<0.001, respectively), PU (10.57 reps, p<0.001, and 7.65 reps, p<0.001, respectively), SU (8.85 reps, p<0.001, and 6.52 reps, p<0.001, respectively), and 800m (-75.99 sec, p<0.001, and -55.46 sec, p<0.001, respectively). Although Bonferroni analysis did not show significant differences between Normal and Overweight, the trends of the average changes clearly showed that differences exist between these two groups as well.CONCLUSION:Increased BMI negatively affected running performance and local muscular endurance in PO. The results suggest that BMI standards might be helpful non-invasive, inexpensive, quick screening and follow-up tool for PO’s physical performance. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:The paper is a part of the project III47015, funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia – Scientific Projects 2011 – 2018.