A Comprehensive Aerobics Program as a Means of Increasing the Level of Students' Physical and Functional Fitness

The problem of the study is the search for new means and methods of physical training which would contribute to improving the level of students' physical fitness and health. The aim of the study is to develop methods of aerobics complexes for physical education at the university. The study focuses on the physical education of university students, namely, on changes in the level of students' physical fitness and physiological parameters as a result of doing aerobics and traditional types of exercise. The hypothesis of the study was that the use of aerobics classes in the physical culture and sports discipline on the basis of a rational combination of the basic and elective parts of the curriculum would increase its efficiency, the level of students' physical and motor training, better health and thinking. To achieve the aim, the following objectives are set: (1) to develop aerobics complexes and methods of their application in physical education classes with the directed development of motor abilities; (2) to conduct a pilot study of the effectiveness of the developed systems for university students. The practical significance of the study is determined by the fact that it developed a comprehensive program of aerobics that can be used in physical education classes at universities in specialized student groups in order to improve the level of general physical fitness. The study was conducted on the basis of Togliatti State University. The study examined 126 first-year female students. A control group (64 people) was formed engaged in a standard program, and an experimental group (62 people) engaged in the developed technique with the use of aerobics complexes. A significant improvement was noted in the experimental group in indicators characterizing physical development: the level of physical qualities development, the state of the cardiovascular (pulse under load) and respiratory (timed inspiratory capacity) systems. The tendency to improvement was revealed in the parameters of heart rate recovery via a functional test. There was no indicator deterioration in the experimental group. The analysis of the results of the study conducted in the framework of the formative experiment gives reason to conclude that in the total number of indicators a significant improvement in the control group occurred in the parameters characterizing motor preparedness (strength endurance). The tendency to improvement is revealed in separate tests determining the level of physical qualities development.

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