Longitudinal Assessment of Physical Fitness of Students from the University of Defence in the Czech Republic

Abstract

Objectives: Cardiorespiratory fitness demands are placed on students of all military schools. The bachelors study programmes usually include subjects which requires the high level of physical fitness.  The study aims to give a comprehensive account of the level of physical fitness of selected military school. Design: Comparing of results of the physical activity tests were used in this study. Methods: The sample consisted of bachelor´s students of University of Defence between the academic year 2008/2009 and 2015/2016. The total number of participated students in our study depends of academic year and number of tested students (men from 102 to 111; women from 76 to 84). A male group (mean ± SD: 19.91 ± 0.29 years, 182.8 ± 7.2 cm, 82.9 ± 10.9 kg) performed all physical activity tests (12 min running, push-ups, sit-ups, pull-up on the crossbar, running the 100 m and throwing a hand grenade). A women group (mean ± SD: 19.36 ± 1.23 years, 171.8 ± 7.2 cm, 66.9 ± 8.7 kg) performed physical activity tests (12 min running, sit-ups, running the 100 m and throwing a hand grenade).   Results: It has been found that study programme which includes physical activity subjects (>7 hours per week) is highly effective because we did not observe statistical significance decrease of values in selected physical tests. Conclusions: Summing up the results, it can be concluded good physical readiness and preparation for military duty in students of University of Defence in Czech Republic.