Physical Fitness Promotion among Adolescents: Effects of a Jump Rope-Based Physical Activity Afterschool Program.

Xiaofeng Yang,Joonyoung Lee,Tao Zhang,Xiangli Gu,Xiaoxia Zhang

doi:10.3390/children7080095

Abstract

The major purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a jump rope-based physical activity afterschool program on middle school students’ physical fitness. Sixty students (Mage = 13.37, SD = 0.58; 53.3% female) participated in a 12-week jump rope-based afterschool program (45 min/time, three times/week). Participants were randomly assigned to three groups: (a) freestyle rope skipping (N = 20), traditional jump rope (N = 20), and a control group (N = 20). Physical fitness tests, including muscular strength (standing long jump, right-hand grip, and left-hand grip), flexibility, body composition, and bone mineral density (BMD) were measured in pre- and post-tests. A 2 (time) × 3 (groups) repeated measure multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was performed. The results found significant improvements in muscular strength (standing long jump, right-hand grip, and left-hand grip) in both intervention groups (p < 0.001; ds = 0.2–0.44). Only the freestyle rope skipping group had increased BMD (p < 0.05, d = 0.33). Compared to the traditional jump rope, the freestyle rope skipping group showed significantly higher improvement in flexibility (p < 0.05, d = 0.83). These findings suggest that the jump rope-based afterschool program with freestyle rope skipping would be more effective than traditional jump rope to promote physical fitness performance among adolescents.

Highlights

According to recent global physical activity (PA) guidelines, adolescents should engage in at least one hour of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) each day to gain sufficient health benefits [1,2,3,4]
The 12-week jump rope-based PA afterschool intervention in the present study revealed a significant improvement of flexibility among adolescents
The findings of this study provided empirical evidence of a jump rope-based PA afterschool program in promoting adolescents’ physical fitness performances, such as muscular strength and flexibility

Summary

Introduction

According to recent global physical activity (PA) guidelines, adolescents should engage in at least one hour of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) each day to gain sufficient health benefits [1,2,3,4]. More than 80% of adolescents failed to meet the daily MVPA recommendations worldwide [5], and only 29.9% of Chinese adolescents engage in the recommended daily MVPA. Over one-third of adolescents are either overweight or obese [1,7,8,9], and a substantial decline in cardiovascular and muscular fitness in adolescents has been reported across the globe [10,11,12,13]. Low levels of physical fitness during adolescence tend to track into adulthood and lead to both short- and long-terms health risks and chronic disease [2,14,15,16]. It is an urgent need to implement effective interventions aiming to promote adolescents’ PA participation and improve their physical fitness

Objectives

Discussion

Conclusion