OVERVIEW OF THE FITNESS PARAMETERS IN THE STUDENTS OF PÉCS UNIVERSITY

Abstract

Background. Obesity and a sedentary way of life play an important part in public health in Hungary. This phenomenon is becoming more and more serious not only in adults but also children. Adults' health behaviour is greatly affected by the existence or absence of health awareness. Regular exercising in association with general fitness form an integral part of health awareness. Our objective is to demonstrate the nutrition and fitness status of students in higher education with a comprehensive test. Material and methods. Beside general factors affecting health, such as BMI, skeletal muscle, body fat, visceral fat percentage, participants performed practical tasks which provided data of their stamina, muscular strength and fitness status: (1) a 15/20-minute shuttle run, (2) a scheduled abdominal muscle test (3) manual clamping force measurement (4) a scheduled push up test (5) a standing long-jump test, and (6) a flexibility test. Results. According to our survey, young adults' nutrition status was satisfactory, two third of them had normal BMI. Left manual clamping force and trunk stretching force in men, stamina and explosive power in women were significantly determined by BMI classification. Basing on these results, we can state that body weight has no effect on joint mobility. Conclusions. The present study draws attention to several former conclusions which suggest that more efforts are needed in higher education to improve health promotion of the youth. Introduction of compulsory physical education classes might facilitate further research which may follow-up the changes in the fitness status of young people.