Method
I have carried out 4 tests. All of test was done within 20 minutes; first I was going to measure all male then move to female subjects data but still the male subject were needed in other tests I had to measure the subject gender randomly.
Before all tests subject had to do stretching to reduce the risk of low back pain. Stretching promotes muscular relaxation. A muscle in constant contraction requires more energy to accomplish activities. Flexibility in the hamstrings, hip flexors, quadriceps, and other muscles attaching to the pelvis reduces stress to the low back. Stretching causes muscular relaxation, which encourages healthy nutrition directly to muscles; the resulting reduction in accumulated toxins reduces the potential for muscle shortening or tightening and thus reduces fatigue.
Test 1: Sit and reach
For this test and reach bench is also ready set up. Assistant is not required but may need one people to double check the measurements. The subject sits on a mat with his feet against the bench, both of his hands are raised and then when the subject is ready, he leans forward as far as he can. The subject has three chances to improve how far he can stretch, the third measurement is taken as his best.
Test 2: Leg speed
This experiment is the same, as test 1but only requires one more chair. The same assistance maybe used if no one requests him or her and the same subject will be tested for this experiment. The subject this time stands with his hands hold both chairs. the subject had raise his leg so that is just above the bin, when I say ‘start’ the subject circles the bin once again 20 times as fast as he can. The stop watch is stopped when my assistant who is counting the number of times the subject has circled the bin says ‘stop’. Repeat a second time to get an average. . The result for this experiment was recorded in the same table after the experiment is finish.
Test 3: Grip strength
This test does not require setting up, a grip dynamometer apparatus was be adjusted to the correct starting before starting the test. The subject places his hands in the apparatus first rising his arm up in a vertical position then pushes his hand with maximum force against the grip dynamometer handle. After the subject applies force the subject has to slow lower his arm to the leg and the reading is taken.
Test 4: arm speed
First I have set up the experiment placing all equipment is right position with assistances of one subject and may use 2 subjects as an assistant and one subject to test for this experiment. I used a stopwatch rather than a stop clock for all tests required because it is more precise.
The subject had to places his favoured arm hanging down and hold with the other hand a chair for support around a plastic bin with a weight inside maybe books inside to make it steady, so when hit the bin will not tip over. When I say ‘start’ the subject circles his arm around the plastic bin 20 times as fast as he can. The stop watch is started when I have said ‘start’ and I’ll stop the stop watch when my assistant, who is counting how many times the subject, has rounded the bin, says ‘stop’ when the subject has reached 20 counts. Repeat a second time to get an average. The result for this experiment was recorded after the experiment is finish.
Modifications
- I originally planned to take the male data first but still most of the male subjects were not available I had to take random data.
- I planned for all tests to take around 20 minutes but some tests took longer than others like the leg test, this test took around 40 minutes because of disorganisation, some subjects wear unsuitable trousers and others refused to carry put the test because they slow.
- 4 subjects were excluded for different reasons 2 male and 2 female subjects. This meant I had data of 6 male and female data but I planned to measure 8 males and females.
- I originally planned to do tests in this order Test 1: arm speed, Test 2: Leg speed, Test 3: Sit and reach and Test 4: Grip strength. But still my assistants were not following orders I was force to done tests in random order.
Contingency plan
2 subjects were not present for day 2 and 3 of tests because of trips, I could not replaced them because there were limited number of subjects so I had to exclude there data for next tests and from previous tests. Now I was left with 6 male and 7 female subjects to do. I had to take carry out tests myself to make it 7 males and 7 females and because one male subject did 3 tests and refused to do the last test, so I had to exclude his data and start from the beginning, this was maybe one of the reasons why the tests took longer than I expected.
Results
Physical Fitness Results:
Test 1: Sit & Reach table of results
Test2: Leg Speed table of results
Test 3: Grip Test table of results
Test4: Arm Speed table of results
Graph of tests
Sit and reach bar chart
Leg speed bar chart
Grip test bar chart
Arm Speed bar chart
Evaluation of results
This table shows the response subjects gave to my health questionnaire
The graph below shows question 8 asking the activity level of each subject, the graph shows that male subjects are much fitter and possibly do more exercise as a whole.
The results of the four tests went according to my hypothesis which was male subjects will perform better in strength and speed test, the last bar chart of each test shows the total average for male and female subjects (this can be seen on pages 10-12) and the bar chart clearly shows males performance is greater at speed and strength because men generally have more muscle tissue than women do because muscle size is increased by the presence of testosterone, the male sex hormone. And also I stated that the female subjects will out do the male subjects in the sit and reach test, this result can be seen on page 9 showing the average of best value of all male and female subjects in one bar chart. There is a pattern in test 2: leg speed and test 4: arm speed, all the female bar charts is nearly double the male subjects which means males are much faster. But in test 1: sit and reach it was the other way round because females are more flexible. In test 3: grip test the male subject nearly doubled the female subjects. The pattern seems to be in each test one bar is nearly half the other one.
there was anomalous data through out the whole experiment, in test 2: leg speed, one of the female subject had an enormously high time which was 23.5 and the normally the high times were around 15 seconds, the reason why she got such a long time was due to she wearing unsuitable trousers which were very baggy and she had to start again around 5 times because she would knock over the bin with those baggy trousers. I could not exclude her data because of limited subjects.
Conclusion
In conclusion males out done females in the tests as whole expect for only one test: sit and reach, and my hypothesis were all correct and my hypothesis was supported my data results, I have not investigated many subjects as I wanted due limited subjects but I was very confident with my hypothesis. Test 1: sit and reach females as a whole hammered the males in this test because they are more flexible as I stated in my hypothesis. Test 2: leg speed males were better at speed, because they have more muscle tissue than females do because muscle size is increased by the presence of testosterone, once again stated in my hypothesis. Test 3: grip test: males out done the female because they have a more developed muscles and from the health question it is evident that 6 out of 7 male subjects perform regular exercise where as 2 out of 7 female subjects perform regular exercise, male subject are fitter this means it could have been not a fair test . Test 4: arm speed again males are better at speed thanks to more muscle tissue than females.
Discussion
- talk about the validity of conclusion
My data strongly supports my hypotheses and male subjects in the class are doing more aerobic exercise as from my health questionnaire, and aerobic exercise will greatly improve, functional capacity and can expect to increase the number and size of blood vessels, increase vital capacity and respiratory rate and achieve increases in pulmonary ventilation, as well as increases in arterial venous oxygen. Moreover, stroke volume (amount of blood pumped per heart beat) will increase, and resting heart rate will decrease. What does all this mean? It means that cardiovascular and respiratory system will improve and will increase the size and strength of your heart. In aerobic exercise 50% of calories burned are from carbohydrates, 50% are from fat and less than 1% is from protein. And, because there is an increase in intensity, there is also an increase in the total number of calories burned.
Acknowledgements
For this investigation I could have not done completed all tests so smoothly and easy if it was not for my assistants and technician I would like to thank one subject who assisted me and set up all apparatus required for all the tests, his name is Kalpesh Patel and technician who stored all apparatus is a safe place so I could use them the following lesson, name
Bibliography
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