RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE 30-SECOND BURPEE TEST VARIATION AND ANTHROPOMETRIC AND MOTOR DIMENSIONS IN FEMALE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

The 3-minute Burpee test has been widely reported in the literature, however the motor abilities assessed by the 30- second Burpee test (30SBT) variation are not clearly defined. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the 30SBT and components of physical fitness, including anthropometric and motor characteristics, in the study participants. The sample consisted of 75 female students of Teacher Education Faculty, University of Belgrade. Pearson´s correlation coefficient showed that 30SBT was negatively related to body height (r = -0.529, p < 0.01) and body mass (r = - 0.350, p < 0.01) as anthropometric variables, and also positively correlated with body coordination (r = 0.517, p < 0.01), agility (r = 0.380, p < 0.01), upper-body (r = 0.373, p < 0.01) and trunk strength (r = 0.257,both p < 0.05) and flexibility (r = 0.259, p < 0.05) as motor abilities. However, when we applied a regression analysis, the bestfit model demonstrated a clear significant causal relationship only between measures of body height and burpee test scores (R² = 0.279, p < 0.01) and also between burpee test performance with coordination and agility (R² = 0.313, p < 0.01). This findings suggest that the effectiveness of the 30-second Burpee test is highly dependent on motor abilities such as coordination and agility, and that body height has a negative impact on Burpee test performance. Given that the test is timeefficient and also economically and organizationally practical, the authors suggest that the 30-second Burpee variation should be implemented in physical education classes to assess motor dimensions of preschool, school, and university populations.