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Flexibility and Abdominal Strength among Macedonian children and adolescents: Eurofit Protocol

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Author Affiliations

  • 1Faculty of Physical Education, Sport, and Health, Ss.Cyril and Methodius University, 1000, Skopje, MACEDONIA
  • 2Faculty of Physical Education, Sport, and Health, Ss.Cyril and Methodius University, 1000, Skopje, MACEDONIA

Res. J. of Physical Education Sci., Volume 2, Issue (10), Pages 17-21, October,23 (2014)

Abstract

The performance level of young people is often used to define the well-being. Indeed, several studies and correlations with health conditions (e.g. obesity and growth) are combinated. In Macedonia there is lack of investigation in order to define the physical level of children and adolescents. Over 9241 subjects (6–14) grouped according to ages were tested during the Physical Education (PE) lessons by experts from the area of kinesiology and medicine, previously trained to perform tests and to take anthropometric measures. All instructions about testing phases were selected within Eurofit battery test. In particular, Sit and Up’s (SUP) and Sit and Reach (SAR) were assessed to evaluate endurance of abdominal muscles and flexibility of the lower back. The results are processed with statistical parametric methods of relevance. On the basis of the obtained results it can be concluded that boys unlike the girls in all age categories showed better results in fitness test “Sit-ups 30 sec.”, and these differences increase with age increasing. Girls in all age categories show better results in the test “Sit and Reach”. Comparing the international studies with the results obtained in our research can be concluded that students of both sexes from Macedonia achieve an average lower scores in the tests “Sit-ups 30 sec.” and “Sit and Reach” at the age of 11 and 14 years compared to the peers from Serbia, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Lithuania, Estonia. Critical performance suggests improvement in PE lessons both from a qualitative and a quantitative point of view.

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