Khosla and McBroom (1984) calculated BMIs for 824 female Olympic finalists from 47 events included in the 1972 and 1976 Olympics (Table 2-5). Gymnasts and rowing coxswains had the lowest BMIs: the BMIs of gymnasts averaged 18.6 to 18.7 and ranged from 16.0 to 20.0, while the BMIs of coxswains averaged 18.6 and ranged from 15.8 to 29.8. Not surprisingly, shot putters and discus throwers had the highest BMIs: shot putters' BMIs averaged 28.1 (range 23.9 to 31.1) and discus throwers' BMIs averaged 28.4 (range 23.6 to 34.7). Women who competed in activities requiring all-around strength and endurance, that is those involved in the pentathlon, canoeing, handball, rowing, swimming, and volleyball, demonstrated average BMIs of 18.6 to 25.9. Thus, it may be argued that women with BMIs ranging from 16 to 35 have demonstrated extreme physical fitness. These data suggest that while all-around fitness may be associated with a BMI range of 19 to 26, women of BMI as high as 35 and as low as 16 have demonstrated excellent athletic performance.

In several large epidemiological studies (Blair et al., 1989; Paffenbarger et al., 1986), decreased mortality and morbidity risk have been shown to correlate more closely with activity level than body fat. According to these findings, it is possible to be active and fit, with a low health risk, and still be fat by the body fat standard.

It is generally acknowledged that increasing body fatness is associated with lowering of weight-bearing endurance performance while increasing lean mass, often accompanied by greater body fat and weight, is compatible with greater strength (IOM, 1992). Setting a high body fat limit thus favors selection of women who are strong but lack optimum endurance and vice versa, thus creating a paradox.

Additionally, within any BMI or percent body fat range, women will vary greatly in overall "fitness." Hence two women of the same fatness can have very different lifting capacity or ability to complete a 2-mi run. According to Jones et al. (1992), body composition explains only 5 to 30 percent of between-individual differences in endurance performance and other factors such as sit-ups and vertical jumps. As fitness is a key component to military readiness, fitness standards must be considered in conjunction with standards of body weight and composition. This will be discussed in greater detail in Chapter 3.

With respect to the role of body composition in appearance, two aspects of body composition prevail; these are total fatness and fat distribution. Both excessive thinness and overweight may be associated with an undesirable military appearance. Localized accumulations of adipose tissue associated with excessive weight gain, such as adipose tissue deposited within the abdominal cavity or around the hips and thighs, may also influence overall appearance. References to the appearance standard in military directives describe it predominantly in terms of abdominal

Front Matter (R1-R16)

Executive Summary (1-24)

1 Introduction (25-32)

2 Body Composition (33-60)

3 Physical Fitness Policies and Programs (61-86)

4 Weight Management (87-108)

5 Nutritional Concerns of Military Women (109-126)

6 Pregnancy and Lactation and Postpartum Return-To-Duty Fitness (127-156)

7 Conclusions and Recommendations (157-170)

Appendixes (171-172)

A Workshop Summary, Agenda, Participants, and Abstracts (173-252)

B Practices and Policies Tables (253-262)

C Military Occupational Specialty Classification Tables (263-280)

D Search Strategy for Literature Review (281-284)

E Civilian Inquiry Letter and Table of Responses (285-290)

F Abbreviations (291-294)

G Bibliography (295-334)

H Biographical Sketches (335-338)

Index (339-352)