Physiological and fitness comparison between young Japanese and American males.

Environmental and cultural aspects are known to influence particular characteristics of an ethnic group and, as such, are partially responsible for distinguishing an ethnic group from others. This study was designed to compare non-athlete young Japanese and American males on a variety of physiological and fitness characteristics in order to locate and quantify the magnitude of any physiological and fitness differences between the two races. Aerobic capacity based upon bicycle ergometer, resting heart rate, and resting blood pressure, vertical jump, grip strength, and flexibility as measured by sit-and-reach, and trunk-and-neck extension tests were obtained for 20 Japanese and 20 American males whose ages ranged between 19 and 25 years. Cardiovascular and aerobic capacity data indicated that the Americans had higher blood pressure (both systolic and diastolic blood pressures) and higher absolute VO2max than the Japanese. However, the Japanese had a higher relative VO2max value than the Americans. The Japanese had higher values than those of the Americans in the vertical jump and for trunk-and-neck flexibility. Within the limitation of the present study, it can be concluded that the Japanese had a higher lower extremity power and better flexibility in the trunk-and-neck extension compared with the American.