The effects of appropriate exercise programs to their somatotype characters in obese primary school children

There are various definitions of obesity in different sources. Obesity is, in general, the undesired increase of body weight in respect to body length which is a result of an increase in the ratio of fat mass to fat-free mass in the body. In the evolution of obesity; a lot of factors such as genetics, age, gender, eating habits, insufficient physical activities play an important role. Many studies have shown that the prevalence of childhood obesity has increased in recent years. It is known that a diet program including exercise activities is an effective method in obesity treatment. The aim of this study is to compare the effectiveness of applications of just diet, diet plus exercises and exercises plus diet program appropriate to somatotype character. Thus to put forward the distinctness of diet programs including exercise activities peculiar to body type of the person in concern. This study conducted with 45 obese primary school aged boys who live in Mardin and Diyarbakır. Obesity-related diseases of 45 children aged 7 to 13 were diagnosed, their initial BMIs were recorded by taking their height and weight, their body fat percentage also calculated via BIA and besides somatotype characters of 15 children had been determined. 45 children, divided into three groups each including 15 kids, one experimental and two control groups. An exercise plus diet program appropriate to their somatotype characters applied to experimental group for 12 weeks. Just diet program applied to one of the control groups. And basketball plus diet program applied to the other control group. After 12 weeks the measurements were repeated and the differences between the first and last measurements were analyzed. Final data was evaluated in SPSS 24.0 statistical program and the differences between measurements were determined. Finally; it was observed that there was a significant change between the first and last measurements of all groups. Besides the experimental group which exercise plus diet program appropriate to their somatotype characters applied, showed a more significant change than the control groups. Keywords: Obesity, pre-puberty, exercise, somatotype, diet.