CHILDREN ATTITUDES TOWARD VARIOUS FORMS OF RESISTANCE TRAINING

Abstract

Despite the belief that resistance training was dangerous or ineffective for children, the safety and effectiveness of such programs are now well documented. The goal of this study was to examine the attitudes of children toward different forms of resistance training in which they were involved. One hundred 3rd and 4th grade children served as participants (age 9.5 years). Before filling out a questionnaire, the students were involved in five different resistance exercises types: exercises with their own body weight, exercises with barbells 1 kg in weight each, exercises with elastic bands, exercises with a partner and exercises with a BOSU ball (under unstable conditions). The questionnaire with a Likert scale of 5 degrees with responses ranging from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree) consisted of questions exploring attitudes and degree of motivation toward various modalities of resistance training and their use in physical education classes. All of the selected modalities were evaluated positively by the children.  Over 50% of the children stated that they strongly like all of the selected resistance training modalities. Exercises on a BOSU ball were the children’s first choice (51%) followed by rubber bands (15%) while exercise with body weights were their last choice (9%). Within the limitations of the study, the data show that various modalities of resistance training exercises have the potential to increase physical activity and establish healthy physical activity patterns. The desire to experience new and different activities provided a significant role towards choice of modality of resistance training.