Background - Technological developments induced lifestyle changes and increase population physical inactivity. This change in lifestyle can affect the male-female morphological and physical fitness differences.
The aim of this study is to determine and to compare the effect of sex differences in percentage of body fat on speed and endurance running performance.
Methods - 72 male and 64 female students aged 20 to 23 years participated in this study.
After assessing their morphological characteristics, running performances during 30 m and 400 m, and maximum aerobic velocity (MAV) and maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) during a 20 m shuttle running test have been estimated for each subject.
Male students were re-tested after being overweighed down with a weight equivalent to the mean differences in body fat recorded between the two sexes in the form of a loaded worn vest.
Results – Male presented a percentage of fat mass (17.2 ±2%) significantly (p <0.001) lower than that of women subject (25.0 ±2.5%).
Running performances during 30 m and 400 m, MAV and VO2max were significantly (p<0.001) better in males. During the weighted condition, male performances during 30 m and 400 m, MAV and VO2max were attenuated by 6.89%, 14.16%, 6.48% and 10.07%, respectively but remain significantly better than those of female students.
Conclusion - The persistence of sex differences after overweighting male students indicates that body fat could be responsible for ≈ 50 to 70% of the observed differences between sexes performances during short and long sprints, and 20 m shuttle running test.