Education of the Lower Body Flexibility in Students by Combining Various Types of Stretching during Physical Education Lessons

Abstract

Goal: The identification of the effectiveness of the application of dynamic stretching (DS) and static stretching (SS) during warm-up and cool-down, in regards to lower body flexibility. Participants: 206 boys and 91 girls, first- and second-year students of the Dunărea de Jos University, Galați, involved in over 90% of the physical education lessons over the course of both semesters of the academic year 2018-2019, for 28 weeks, 1 module/2 hours weekly. Results: The statistical calculation performed with ANOVA, with repeated measurements indicates the existence of significant progress (values of F<.05), for both genders, in most of the applied tests, but the size of the effect (Partial eta squared/Ƞ2p) shows a weak influence of the independent variable on the flexibility values in half of the analyzed cases. The average values of the girls' performances are significantly superior to the boys' results, in 6 out of 8 tests. Conclusions: The stretching types used during the physical education lessons are effective, producing results in regards to flexibility and to the initial, reduced training level, however, in order to get stronger effects, one physical education lesson per week is not a viable solution to achieve long term favorable adaptations.