Physical condition in young adult Sudanese. A field-study using a self-paced walking test.

A self-paced walking-test has been used to measure the heart-rate response to standard exercise (level walking at 4-8km/h) in 297 young adults in seven occupational groups in the Sudan. This simple and acceptable test provides a useful measure of physical condition when adjustment is made for anthropometric variation. The PE students, soldiers and urban workers studied were in significantly better physical condition than the villagers and the medical students, and where both sexes were available they showed the same contrasts. A substantial part of the variation in physical condition is associated with variation in customary physical activity which was assessed using a questionnaire, supplemented by mechanical pedometers. The subjects in the most active category have a standardized walking heart rate, adjusted for anthropometric variation, of 89 beats/min, compared with 106 beats/min for the least active subjects.