Maximizing university students’ motor fitness by implementing a physical education program incorporating martial arts – implicational study

Abstract

Martial arts are ancient forms of combat, modified for modern sport and exercise. Participation in martial arts classes is growing in popularity, particularly among young people of both sexes, which was confirmed by the research conducted over the last two decades [1,2,3]. Martial arts provide health-promoting and meaningful exercise for millions of practitioners. Training martial arts can increase self-reliance and lead to better overall health and balance as well as an improved sense of mental well-being and numerous benefits to the autonomic nervous and immune systems [4]. Martial arts do not promote aggression and may be used as a treatment modality for young people who are prone to violent behavior [3]. Skills gained when practicing martial arts are very useful in everyday life and should not be associated only with self-defense. Many aspects of combat sports are used in other forms of health training or as an indicator of an individual’s ability to survive in a given environment (such as the ability to fall when losing balance) [5,6]. There are only few studies that have been conducted to gain an understanding of why people participate in martial arts [7,8]. Findings indicate that practitioners of martial arts are motivated differently across the types of martial arts disciplines, competition orientation and past experiences [9]. Self-defense courses, which have been organized for students at the University of Warmia & Mazury in Olsztyn (UWM) since 2005 as a substitute of P.E. lessons, reflect the popularity of such a form of physical activity among young adults. The fact that these classes are of a recreational and voluntary kind attracts a large group of university students who, apart from fulfilling the physical education requirements, are given an opportunity to gain self-defense and combat skills. Although women have been known to train martial arts longer than commonly believed, in the case of the classes held at UWM men constituted an overwhelming majority, which