The physical capacity of different professional groups of Brazilian Amazonians, studied by cycle ergometry ()

Abstract A study of the physical performance of seven different professional groups living in the Brazilian Amazon was performed. The level of the physical capacity was measured using the ergometric bicycle. The professional groups (10 persons each) were the following: military groups, rural workers, river workers from the fluvial harbor of the city of Belém, primitive Kayapó indians. The other groups were professional soccer players, sedentary working persons and urban workers — 5 people of each. The best physical capacity was obtained by the soccer players and military groups. In second place, having small differences were the remaining groups, except the sedentaries. These persons revealed very low physical performance. As a general generalization the amazonians, although living in an environment of very high temperatures and humidity, are in about the same physical condition as those living in the interior of State of São Paulo (city of Ribeirão Preto). The amazonian rural workers reached better physical condition when compared to those studied in the State of São Paulo. Our preliminary explanation for such a result is the ingestion of a more balanced diet by the amazonians who have mainly high protein intake. The primitive Kayapó indians, perhaps studied for the first time, showed a physical performance comparable with the average of the other workers.