Avaliação da aptidão física na escola: diagnóstico de saúde e desempenho em jovens engajados em atividades físicas estruturadas apenas nas aulas de Educação Física escolar

Abstract

One of the roles of Physical Education in schools is to develop habits that have a beneficial effect on students' health. The study sought to identify how the practice of structured physical activity only in the school environment, with weekly frequency stipulated by the Education Departments, affects students' health-related physical fitness and physical performance, using the PROESP-Br test battery. The sample included 24 students (16 boys and 8 girls), aged 11 to 14, from a public school in Maceió - AL, who were assessed during Physical Education classes. The test consisted of anthropometric measurements, BMI, flexibility, abdominal resistance, upper and lower limb power, speed, agility and cardiorespiratory fitness. Maximum, minimum, mean and standard deviation values of the data were analyzed, in addition to the percentage frequency to categorize students into Risk Zone and Healthy Zone, and into the classes from Poor to Excellent, according to PROESP-Br. The analysis used the chi-square test to verify differences between biological sexes, with a significance level of (p≤0.05). The results showed that not all tests presented positive results, and significant differences were observed between sexes in health criteria, except in performance. In the area of health criteria standards, most students reached the desired criteria in BMI, WHR, Medicineball test and Flexibility test. In terms of performance, there was low fitness in some students in the agility (square), speed (20- meter run) and cardiorespiratory fitness (6-min run/walk) tests. In view of this, we conclude that the practice of structured physical activity with a frequency of 1 to 2 times a week may be insufficient for satisfactory physical fitness. A possible solution is to increase the frequency of physical education classes at school.