Influence of combined teaching of physical education and sports gymnastics on the anthropological status of elementary school students

Abstract

The aim of the research was to determine whether regular physical education classes in combination with additional training in sports gymnastics lead to statistically significant changes in morphological characteristics, motor and functional abilities. The sample of participants consisted of 65 male fifth-grade students aged 11 years (± 0.5 years). In addition to regular classes, the students additionally, once a week for a duration of 60 minutes, applied training in sports gymnastics, for a duration of 12 weeks. Statistically significant changes at the level of statistical significance of (p<0.05) occurred in the following variables: body height, body mass, hand tapping, standing long jump, trunk lifting, polygon backwards, standing long jump. For variables: forearm circumference, deep bend various, stand up with a pull-up and running for 3 minutes, there were also differences compared to the initial measurement, however, they are not at a statistically significant level. Therefore, it can be concluded that the teaching of physical education in combination with gymnastics training has a positive effect on the motor abilities and morphological characteristics of the students, while there were no statistically significant transformations in functional ability. The authors of the study are aware of the need to carefully limit their own conclusions considering the age and level of competition, as well as the absence of a control group of participants.