Background: Physical fitness tests are often administered as a battery, allowing for several different fitness scores. Furthermore, fitness scores are generally considered outcome variables, with no one test causing the performance of another. Therefore, using loglinear models to examine the relationship between fitness test performances is appropriate. Methods: This study used data from a campus-based fitness study of college students. Four physical fitness measures were used in the analysis. Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) was assessed by a multi-stage running test (VO2_max, ml/kg/min). Lower-body power was assessed by a countermovement vertical jump (VJ) test (inches). Muscular endurance was assessed by a maximal push-up (PU) test (repetitions). Muscular strength was assessed by a 1RM bench press (BP) test. Participants were categorized into high or low fitness groups using each sex-specific fitness score median. Results: Results of the initial hierarchical loglinear models indicated no significant four-way or three-way interactions. A simplified loglinear model with all two-factor interactions provided adequate fit to the data. The odds of high BP performance were much greater with high PU (OR=3.2) and VJ (OR=2.3) performance. The odds of high CRF performance were also greater with high PU (OR=2.4) and VJ (OR=2.7) performance. Finally, odds of high PU performance were much greater with high VJ (OR=3.6) performance. CRF and BP were statistically independent. Conclusion: Results from this study indicate that the performance on a fitness test can be related to at least one other fitness test performance.

physical fitness, loglinear models, human performance, mosaic plot