Effects of a physical activity program in schoolchildren

Abstract

Objectives: To test the effect of a physical activity program, performed during school breaks with pre-sports games, on body composition and physical condition of Primary Education students. Methodology: we executed an analysis of the differences before and after the independent samples fitness tests and anthropometric measures (with a control and an experimental group), and p value of contrasts, conducted by statistical analysis with the program IBM SPSS 20.0. Application to 54 Primary Education students (boys and girls), aged between 9 and 11 years old. Instruments: 500 meters test (resistance); medicine ball toss test (upper body strength); horizontal jump test (lower body strength); 50 meters test (speed); deep trunk flexion test (flexibility). Results: An active lifestyle, practicing physical activity daily is related to improvements in fitness and body composition of its practitioners. Conclusions: A physical activity program, on school breaks of 30 minutes three days a week, produces improvements in BMI values and in the physical condition of the practitioner.