Physical fitness of oarsmen and rugby players before and after training

¹ Departments of Physiology and Anatomy, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

Resting pulse rates and fitness indexes by the Harvard step test were ascertained in 100 healthy male University students. The subjects included members of the University rowing and rugby clubs, who were about to undergo systematic training, and a third group of students not engaged in any such activity. The observations were repeated on 58 of the students after a period of 2–4 months. The mean resting pulse rates of the three groups were not originally significantly different but after training the pulse rate was significantly lower in the athletic groups than in the controls. At the beginning of the training period the oarsmen and rugby players already had higher fitness indexes than the controls and thereafter they showed significant improvement with training. A significant negative correlation between resting pulse rate and fitness index was found only in the athletic groups.