Abstract
Background: The aim of this study was to test the efficacy of an eight-week physical education program based on circuit training to better improve the overall physical and military-specific performance compared to a conventional physical education program in military high school students. Methods: Sixty-four students were enrolled in this study and randomly assigned to an experimental (EG, circuit training) or a control group (CG, traditional physical education program). Immediately before and after the eight-week training period, participants were tested on strength and endurance performance, circuit training tests, and military tests. Moreover, the acquisition of the educational objectives and the pleasantness of the experimental intervention were tested using a qualitative approach. Results: Despite the higher workload in EG than CG during the training period, the effect of the experimental intervention compared to the control was only possibly to likely positive for a few strength and endurance performances and circuit training tests, respectively. A trivial effect was shown in the military tests. On the contrary, the high percentage of motivation (76%), understanding (78%) and collaboration (86%) showed by the students suggests the achievement of acquisition of the educational objectives and a fair pleasantness of the lessons. Conclusions: A lack of clear and marked effect of the experimental intervention could be ascribed to an insufficient exposure time to the training and a high subjective overall workload encountered in military high school students.
Highlights
Physical fitness represents one of the most important aspects for military personnel [1] and good levels of endurance, force and power are pivotal for individuals who choose this profession [2]
The main aim of the present study was to verify whether a specific training, which alternates sessions of circuit training and sessions of power training for lower and upper limbs, could enhance overall physical performance compared to a conventional physical education program based on sport activity in a classical and scientific military high school
We provide evidence that further studies should consider the assessment of the quality of motivation, as it has been shown that intrinsic motivation is related to adolescents’ performance in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity [48]
Summary
Physical fitness represents one of the most important aspects for military personnel [1] and good levels of endurance, force and power are pivotal for individuals who choose this profession [2]. An emergent concept in the present interpretation of physical literacy is competence with the meaning of proven capacity of facing an individual task or groups of tasks (e.g., study, work, personal development), using a structured set of knowledge (procedural or declaratory), abilities (cognitive, physical) and attitudes (personal, social, interpersonal) [6,7]. These observations highlight that students have to learn how to manage the knowledge and abilities acquired. Conclusions: A lack of clear and marked effect of the experimental intervention could be ascribed to an insufficient exposure time to the training and a high subjective overall workload encountered in military high school students
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