Prof. Dr. J. Hans de RIDDER (Chair)
President, BRICSCESS
Senior Vice-President, ISAK
Director, School of Human Movement Sciences
North-West University-Potchefstroom
South Africa
Prof. Dr. J. Hans de Ridder is a full professor and director of the School of Human Movement Sciences at the North-West University in Potchefstroom, South Africa. He is currently a C1 rated researcher of the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa. He was the receiver in 2002 of the Stals Award for Human Movement Sciences from the South African Academy for Science and Art for his exceptional contribution to kinanthropometry. In 2011 he was the receiver of the Albert Strating Award for Preventative Medicine, also from the South African Academy for Science and Art. At the age of 39 years, he was one of the youngest recipients of the Stals award and also the first in the history of the School of HMS at the North-West University in South Africa. In 2010 he reached a milestone in his research career, when his 50th post graduate student (M’s and Ph.D.’s) graduated. Currently a total of 66 students have completed their masters or doctoral studies under his guidance. He was the author or co-author of a total of 84 research articles published in subsidised academic journals. He is the Senior Vice-President, ISAK; Member of the Board of Directors of the GCH Foundation; President, GoFPEP 2014 and the Founder Secretary-General and current President of the BRICS Council of Exercise and Sport Science. He was also the president of the BRICSCESS 2019 congress in Cape Town. He is married to Elsie, a math teacher, and they have four children Elé, De Wet, Maret and Melinda.
What Your Body Type Reveals About Your Health
Are you an apple? A pear? Or maybe a ruler? Discovering and understanding your body type and shape, could help you find the most effective workout and, according to many studies, help to improve your health. Many factors can determine our body type for example genetics, lifestyle, gender and age. The interest in man’s body build, shape and body composition (morphology) is an aspect that has been researched by scientists over the past 25 centuries and traditionally the human body is classified by means of somatotyping where we make use of a combination of the three main components: endomorphy, mesomorphy and ectomorphy which are expressed as a three figure value. However, there are also a more popular scientific way of classification, which is based on the overall fat distribution in your body. Most people can fall into these 5 body type categories: Apple; Pear; Hourglass; Inverted Triangle; Ruler. What matters most is not what you are shaped like, but what that shape means for your health and how you can better manage your lifestyle to stay healthy. The presentation will break down the different health risks associated with the five different body types and what you can do to combat the risks to maintain your health. Many studies indicate that apple shape is worse than pear shape. However, the shape of the body is just a way to know where you can improve your overall health. No matter what shape you are, the key is to maintain a healthy weight, eat healthy foods and stay active.