Aerobic work capacity in high school students in the 'kibutz' (communal settlement) in Israel

Maximal oxygen uptake (vO ₂max) was predicted according to Astrand's nomograms in 214 high school students aged 14-19 years from three different educational systems in kibutzim (communal settlements) in Israel. The mean vO ₂max of the high school students in kibutzim is significantly higher than the mean vO ₂max of their counterparts in urban high schools and is equal to, or even higher than the vO ₂max reported in high school students surveyed in other countries. Although regularly scheduled sport activity at school was two to three hours per week for all students, the mean vO ₂max recorded in boys from all agricultural high school was higher than the mean vO ₂max of boys from the vocational parochial schools (54.1, 51.7 and 47.1 ml O ₂/kg BW/min, respectively). These differences in mean vO ₂max are due to the greater amount of time devoted to physical work in the former school. Although the time devoted to physical work differed for the girls in the three types of high schools, they achieved similar mean vO ₂max (38 ml O ₂/kg BW/min) since their activities were mostly sedentary. The present survey confirms the assumption that physical work capacity as assessed by vO ₂max is not affected by a limited number of weekly gymnastic lessons but rather by the individuals' general activities, occupation, and number of hours per week dedicated to physical work.