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Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Improving Strength, Power, Muscle Aerobic Capacity, and Glucose Tolerance through Short-term Progressive Strength Training Among Elderly People
Published on: July 5, 2017
Low muscle fitness is associated with metabolic risk in youth
Jostein Steene-Johannessen1, Sigmund A Anderssen, Elin Kolle
1Department of Sports Medicine, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway. jostein.steene-johannessen@nih.no
Purpose:
To examine the independent associations of muscle fitness and cardiorespiratory fitness with clustered metabolic risk in youth.
Methods:
In 2005-2006, a cohort of 9- and 15-yr-olds (N = 2818) was randomly selected from all regions of Norway. The participation rate was 89% and 74% among the 9-and 15-yr-olds, respectively. We assessed muscular strength by measuring explosive, isometric, and endurance strength. Cardiorespiratory fitness was measured directly as peak oxygen uptake during a cycle ergometry test. Risk factors included in the composite risk factor score (sum of z-scores) were systolic blood pressure, triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, insulin resistance, and waist circumference.
Results:
Muscle fitness was negatively associated with clustered metabolic risk, independent of cardiorespiratory fitness, and after adjustment for age, sex, and pubertal stage (beta = -0.112, P < 0.001). Independent of muscle fitness, an inverse association was found between cardiorespiratory fitness and clustered metabolic risk (beta = -0.337, P < 0.001). Moreover, the odds ratios for having clustered risk in the least fit quartile compared with the most fit quartile were 7.2 (95% confidence interval (CI)=4.3-12.0) and 17.3 (95% CI = 9.2-32.7) for muscle fitness and cardiorespiratory fitness, respectively.
Conclusions:
Our results show that muscle fitness and cardiorespiratory fitness are independently associated with metabolic risk in youth.
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