Physical fitness standards in students from province of Neuquén, Argentina. Physical Fitness Assessment Plan study.

Abstract

At present, there is no information about the physical fitness (PF) of children and adolescents attending school in the province of Neuquén. The provincial Department of Sports developed the Physical Fitness Assessment Plan. The main objective of this study was to administer the ALPHA-Fitness test battery to the students of Neuquén in order to develop PF reference standards. A total of 4487 male and female students of Neuquén aged 9-18.9 years were assessed based on four PF components of the high priority ALPHA-Fitness test battery: 1) morphological: body weight and height to estimate body mass index; 2) musculoskeletal: standing long jump test; 3) motor: 4 x 10 m speed/ agility test; and 4) cardiorespiratory: 20-m shuttle run test (SRT). The mean body mass index was 22.9 ± 4.7 kg/m2; 25 % of participants were overweight and 12.7 %, obese. The mean values for the cardiorespiratory component were 4.3 ± 2.5 stages, 10.1 ± 1.2 km/h, maximal oxygen volume of 38.7 ± 6.7 mL/kg/min; standing long jump: 147.3 ± 34.6 cm; and for the motor component: 13.0 ± 1.5 s. Male participants had a better performance in PF tests (p < 0.001). The study results provide the first PF standards for male and female children and adolescents of the province of Neuquén, Argentina.