Way of life as a determinant of physical fitness.

Four hundred and five urbanites and 302 communal agricultural settlement (Kibbutz) members participated in a study which examined their physical fitness. The subjects were divided into three subgroups according to age: 18-21 years, 22-30 years, and 31-40 years. No differences were found among the two populations in all three subgroups as concerns anthropometric data. In the youngest age group no differences in resting heart rate and VO2 max between urbanites and kibbutz dwellers were found. For those aged over 21 years the VO2 max (40.8 +/- 10.0 ml O2/kg body weight/min for those aged 22-30 years and 38.7 +/- 9.7 ml O2/kg body weight/min for those aged 31-40 years) was significantly higher (p less than 0.001) than that of the urbanites (35.6 +/- 7.0 for age 22-30 and 33.1 +/- 8.0 ml O2/kg body weight/min for age 31-40 years). The results confirm the notion that physical fitness is a good profile of habitual activity.