Peculiarities of physical fitness and body composition of students engaged and not engaged in sports

Abstract

Peculiarities of students’ physical fitness and body composition were identified through an international research project including Lithuania, Poland and Belorussia. The article deals with the data of research carried out in Lithuania. The study included 207 students (aged 19.7 ± 1.3). It was established that students engaged in sports demonstrated higher results in speed and agility tests compared to their counterparts not engaged in sports (p<0.05). Results of resistance and flexibility tests did not differ statistically significantly between male students engaged and not engaged in sports, but there were statistically significant differences in their endurance test results (p<0.05). Female students engaged in sports showed significantly higher results (p<0.05–0.001) in all physical fitness tests except for the handgrip dynamometry. Body composition characteristics did not significantly differ for students engaged and not engaged in sports.