Application of fitness technologies to increase motor activity and physical fitness of adolescents.

Purpose: to prove the positive effect of fitness technologies on the physical fitness of adolescents. Design: a randomized controlled trial. Participants: the study involved the students of the 7 grade (12-13 years old), who were then divided into the main group and control group each containing 62 members. Interventions: the members of the control group were trained using the traditional methodology, while the students of the main group were exposed to the developed fitness technologies. Main Outcome Measures: we were looking into the students': Flexibility (trunk bending from a sitting position (cm)); muscle strength (lifting the torso to a sitting position from the starting position lying on your back (number of times) for 30 s); strength (chest press (number of times) boys from the floor, girls from the bench). To evaluate the functional condition of the body, we measured: heart rate; arterial pressure, Ruffier-Dickson test; BFOF- blood flow optimization factor. Results: The lessons involving the developed fitness technologies started with an active dancing warm-up, were mostly based on a variety of general strengthening exercises that develop the correct posture and strengthen all muscle groups, and finished with exercises for flexibility and stretching each particular muscle group. Various methods were used in order to regulate the physical load on the students, including the "periodical" and "continuous training". During the lessons, we changed the pace and intensity of the exercises depending on the music playing in the background. The final part of the lesson included exercises for flexibility in the lying and sitting positions, as well as yoga asanas, which were performed statically to calm music (10-15 s). Incorporating yoga elements allowed students to rediscover their bodies and facilitated the harmonization of all internal body processes. The introduction of fitness technologies into the studying process began with teaching the teenagers of the main group and assessing the awareness of the students of the importance of doing aerobic exercises, as well as their effectiveness for improving one's health. As a result of the pedagogical experiment, we discovered the positive effect of fitness technologies on the development of students' motor skills (p<0,05). We witnessed the optimization of the functional condition of the adolescents in the main group (decreased heart rate (at the beginning 85±0,64, at the end 83±0,41); decreased BFOF (at the beginning 2580±26, at the end 2450±0,12 (p<0,05)); improved results of the Ruffier-Dickson test (at the beginning 7,8±0,43, at the end4,2±0,18 (p<0,05)). Conclusions: The implementation of fitness technologies allowed us to update the contents of the curriculum of physical education for adolescents by introducing various types of motor activities that match their interests. The results of the pedagogical experiment proved that that lessons that included fitness technologies enriched the motor experience of the students, which is supported by the increased physical factors measures in the main group. Additionally, students showed more interest in attending PE lessons. Various fitness programs have contributed to the development of the creative abilities of adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]