Study concerning the physical fitness of romanian students and its effects on their health-related quality of life

Abstract

All of the studies regarding movement have concluded that physical exercises (PEs) hold a very important part in improving people’s quality of life (QL). QL is comprised of several indicators influencing each other. One of these indicators is physical fitness (PF). PF is directly influenced by the degree of physical activity (PA) and it represents a precondition of being healthy physically, mentally and socially. The purpose of this research was to identify certain exercise programs which are meant to increase the PF of university students. In this regard, we introduced, in the physical education lessons of the experimental group, exercises from Pilates, Tae Bo, Stretching and Workout at Fitness Machines. Control group carried out typical activities of the ordinary Physical Education curriculum throughout the research. The PF components reported improvements in the values of the experimental group at the end of the research. There were significant improvements for balance (p = 0.009), speed of execution (p = 0.006), flexibility (p = 0.013), explosive strength (p = 0.001), static strength (p = 0.009), muscular endurance of the trunk (p = 0.0008), muscular endurance of the arms (p = 0.010) and agility (p = 0.0001). The results of our research support the idea of diversifying physical education lessons with students and orienting physical activities towards increasing their QL, because the improvement of QL for all age groups has become a major focus of modern society.