Grațiela-Flavia Deak

Background and Study Aim. Field-based physical fitness tests are widely used in the assessment of physical education students. However, test interpretation is often based on absolute outcomes that do not account for differences in body size, potentially influencing the evaluation of sex- and country-related differences. The aim of this study was to determine whether the interpretation of selected physical fitness test outcomes differs when absolute results and simple body-size-adjusted indicators are applied. Materials and Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 515 undergraduate physical education students from Poland (n = 258) and Romania (n = 257). Physical fitness was assessed using three Eurofit tests: plate tapping, sit-ups, and standing long jump. Test outcomes were analyzed using both absolute values and simple body-size-adjusted indicators. Sex- and country-related differences were examined using two-way analysis of variance. Results. Analyses based on absolute outcomes revealed significant sex- and country-related differences across all tests, with a particularly large sex effect observed in the standing long jump. After adjustment for body size, group differences were substantially reduced in tests requiring body mass displacement, and sex-related differences in the standing long jump were no longer statistically significant. In contrast, the results of the plate tapping test remained unchanged regardless of the method used to express performance outcomes. Conclusions. The findings indicate that the interpretation of physical fitness test results in physical education students may vary depending on whether absolute outcomes or simple body-size-adjusted indicators are used. The applied ratio-based adjustments substantially altered the pattern of sex- and country-related differences in tests involving body mass displacement, whereas they had little influence on outcomes primarily reflecting movement speed and coordination. These findings suggest that simple body-size-adjusted indicators may influence the interpretation of physical fitness outcomes in educational and comparative settings.

Background: Body mass index (BMI) is widely used as a simple anthropometric indicator, but its functional relevance to physical fitness in physically active populations, such as Physical Education students, remains debated. Aim: This study examined the association between BMI and selected components of physical fitness in Physical Education students, considering sex and country differences. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among undergraduate Physical Education students from Poland and Romania (n = 515; mean age: 21.64 ± 1.34 years). BMI was calculated from measured height and body mass and analyzed as both a continuous and categorical variable. Physical fitness was assessed using three Eurofit tests evaluating upper-limb movement speed, trunk muscular endurance, and lower-limb explosive power. Analyses included correlation methods and multiple linear regression models with subgroup analyses, interaction terms, and quadratic BMI terms to assess nonlinearity. Results: Associations between BMI and fitness components were small in magnitude and inconsistent (r = −0.28 to 0.143; β = −1.614 to 0.005) and varied across tests and subgroups. No significant interaction effects by sex or country were observed, as interaction terms were not statistically significant, and no clear nonlinear relationships were identified. Sex and country were significantly associated with performance levels, whereas BMI contributed only marginally to explaining variability (ΔR² = 0.005–0.011). Conclusions: BMI showed limited and inconsistent associations with the assessed fitness components in this relatively homogeneous group of Physical Education students. It should be interpreted cautiously as a functional indicator and complemented with more precise measures of body composition and physical fitness.

Introduction: Basketball-specific high-intensity interval training (HIIT) has been documented to be a time-efficient, skill focused training method for enhancing the aerobic performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of basketball-specific HIIT on aerobic capacity in adolescent female basketball players. Materials and methods: Participants were 16 female basketball players, aged 13-15 years. They were equally and randomly divided into two groups: a control group and an experimental group. The subjects from the experimental group performed a basketball-specific HIIT protocol for 6 weeks (2 times per week, 25 minutes per session), before the basketball training. The control group followed a basketball training program for the same period, with the same frequency (2 times a week, 90 minutes per session). Pre- and post-intervention, the multi-stage fitness (beep) test was used to assess aerobic endurance. Results: After 12 training sessions, the experimental group showed a significant increase in test scores (p = .002, with a mean difference of 1.263). When compared to the control group, post-intervention, the experimental group showed significantly higher test scores (p .001, with a mean difference of 1.69). The findings suggest that aerobic endurance increases in adolescent basketball athletes after 6 weeks of training. Conclusion: Basketball-specific HIIT appears to be a solid option for improving aerobic performance in adolescent female players while maintaining focus on basketball skills. Article history: Received 2024 January 07; Revised 2025 January 20; Accepted 2025 January 22; Available online 2025.02.10; Available print 2025.02.28

Introduction: The aim of the present study was to compare the level of physical fitness of physical education majors from two universities based in Romania and Ukraine respectively. Materials and methods: A total of 201 university students participated in this study. 161 subjects were Romanian students enrolled at the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Babeş-Bolyai University (107 males and 54 females), and 40 subjects were Ukrainian students enrolled at the National University of Ukraine on Physical Education and Sport (23 males and 17 females). Anthropometric measurements were performed on all participants. In order to evaluate physical fitness indicators, seven physical tests were applied. Results: The main finding of the study was the fact that the physical fitness level of male students was statistically higher (p0.05) between representatives of the same gender groups of Romanian and Ukrainian students. In the case of Modified Sit-and-reach test and Plate tapping test, female subjects of both groups performed better than male subjects. Statistically significant differences (p0.05), except the results in the Plate tapping test, where Ukrainian students had statistically significantly higher results (р<0.05) than their Romanian counterparts. Conclusions: According to the findings of this study, the Romanian subjects had statistically significantly higher results than the Ukrainian subjects. For future research, it would be interesting to analyze the differences between the Romanian and Ukrainian curriculum specific to physical education majors. Analiză comparativă a condiției fizice a studenților români și ucraineni de la facultăți cu profil de educație fizică. Introducere: Scopul acestui studiu a fost acela de a compara nivelul de condiție fizică a studenților de la două facultăți de educație fizică din România, respectiv din Ucraina. Materiale și metode: La acest studiu au participat 201 studenți. 161 dintre aceștia au fost înscriși la Facultatea de Educație Fizică și Sport, Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai din Cluj-Napoca (107 bărbați și 54 femei), iar 40 de studenți au fost studenți ucraineni înscriși la Universitatea Națională de Educație Fizică și Sport din Ucraina (23 bărbați și 17 femei). S-au efectuat măsurători antropometrice cu toți subiecții. Pentru evaluarea nivelului condiției fizice s-au folosit șapte teste. Rezultate: Nivelul de condiție fizică a bărbaților a fost semnificativ mai mare decât nivelul de condiție fizică a femeilor (p0.05). S-au observat diferențe semnificative statistic (p<0.05) atunci când au fost comparate valorile indicilor condiției fizice corespunzătoare studenților români și ucraineni bărbați, respectiv studentelor din România și Ucraina, măsurate cu următoarele teste: 3 minute de urcare și coborâre, flexia longitudinală a trunchiului, lovește plăcile și săritura în lungime de pe loc. Excluzând rezultatele obținute la testul lovește plăcile, studenții români au obținut rezultate semnificativ statistic mai bune decât studenții ucraineni la toate testele efectuate. Concluzii: Conform rezultatelor obținute, studenții români la educație fizică au o mai bună condiție fizică decât studenții ucraineni din același domeniu. O direcție de cercetară utilă ar putea fi analiza comparativă a planurilor de învățământ de la facultățile de educație fizică din cele două țări. Cuvinte-cheie: studenți, dezvoltare fizică, condiție fizică, analiză comparativă. Received 2023 September 14; Revised 2023 September 28; Accepted 2023 October 2nd; Available online 2023 September 30; Available print 2023 November 30.

The KIDSCREEN-27 represents a standardized, worldwide instrument, employed to assess the health-related quality of life in children. The purpose of the present study is to validate the KIDSCREEN-27 questionnaire for 6-year-old preparatory school children and verify its reliability, as well as to perform a comparison regarding the quality of children’s lives living in two cities in Romania: Arad, a provincial city, versus the second most developed city in the country, Cluj-Napoca. A total of 256 children of 6 years of age, who come from families with both parents, with a medium to high socioeconomic status and a good health status, were included in the analysis, using the KIDSCREEN-27 questionnaire at three assessment time points with a re-test period of two weeks. Results indicated that the KIDSCREEN-27 turned out to be suitable for use in 6-year-old Romanian children. Analysis regarding the psychometric properties showed that the Cronbach’s alpha ranged from 0.554 to 0.661 at the end of the study. The Pearson correlation coefficients showed statistically significant differences between the items of each area investigated. In conclusion, there is a growing need to periodically monitor the health status of children to avoid possible problems which may occur.