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The Walking ProjectWalking is good for
you. The exercise helps build up your heart to do its job of pumping
blood round your body and burns up the calories that otherwise will
make you too fat. But, wait a minute.
How do we know all this? Hundreds of
experiments have been done with grown-ups, but does it work in the same
way with children? A team of sports
scientists from Christ Church University wanted to find out, so they
came to Petham.. They have taken all sorts of measurements, height,
weight, blood pressure and heart rate.  But
that's not all.
We know how much each child weighs, but how much is muscle, how much is
bone, how much is fat?
Now, we know the density of each of these. In simple terms, a litre of fat weighs less than a litre of muscle the same size (volume). So if we find the volume of each child we can work out the density and so how much of their body is fat. I say we can work it out but the sums are fairly complicated and the calculation is done by a sophisticated computerised measuring device.  The
body is put in
the pod which is sealed. A known volume of air is slowly pumped into
the pod and the rise in pressure measured. The bigger the body, the
greater the rise in pressure. The computer works out how many litres -
about 20 for each child - and works out the percentage of fat.
The next stage is the walking. 15 minutes of a brisk walk under controlled conditions three times a week. At the end of the exercise period, blood pressure, heart rate and weight will be measured again. Best foot forward...  |
