Because fitness and physical activity both tend to decline as students enter their middle school years, it is important to try to establish protocols and interventions to make this student population enjoy being active. Further, it has been shown that shorter exercise sessions are more likely to be executed. Using a high-intensity interval…

The relationship between youth-fitness test items related to cardiorespiratory endurance and body composition and health outcomes is well established. Until recent years, the link between musculoskeletal fitness measures and health markers has been less conclusive. The information provided in this article offers evidence of the health links…

In the process of educating physically literate individuals, physical educators are tasked with assessing health-related fitness of their students. It is essential to identify or develop appropriate field tests of muscular power for use in physical education settings. This study assessed jumping power in a sample of fourth, sixth, and eighth…

The paper is devoted to the issues of improving the methods of physical training. Currently, the method of teaching and training schoolchildren is developed mainly with a focus on a child's age, which does not always correspond to his or her biological maturity. These reasons together with the growing phenomenon of child acceleration reinforce the…

Sport involvement may offer physical and psychological benefits to early adolescents beyond those accrued through physical activity (PA). Those benefits, though, may be moderated by gender. The purpose of this study was to examine these potential benefits in a middle school population. The sample consisted of 629 sixth graders enrolled in a…

Developing students who are physically literate is one of the most important aspects of physical education (PE). As teachers, we introduce students to the concepts of health and fundamental movement skills like throwing, catching and using implements to allow them the skill proficiency to pursue an active lifestyle. This article focuses on the…

The adoption of compensatory movement patterns occurs when limitations in mobility, stability, or motor control prevent proper motion from occurring. These dysfunctional movements may inhibit fundamental motor skill development and negatively influence perceived movement competence, impeding the development of physical literacy. Therefore, this…

This research was conducted to determine whether there are differences between the norm values used in the evaluation of children who train in different sports and physical education lessons according to the chronological age and biological age of the children. The research group consists of a total of 239 male students of 13 (n=116) and 14…

The new SHAPE America standards and grade level outcomes for high-school physical education focus exclusively on physical activities that are suitable for lifelong participation. Some of the fastest-growing physical activities for adults in the United States are non-traditional multi-sport events and obstacle course races. As "Healthy People…

The purpose of this study was to determine if the motivational profiles of male junior high weight training students differ across levels of teacher-to-student relatedness. One hundred and sixty six students participated in one of two units of instruction. Contextual motivation was measured using the Sport Motivation Scale II-Physical Education…

In a society in which obesity levels have tripled in the past 30 years, the importance of increased fitness levels within the academic setting has become even more critical. The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity of alternative Fitnessgram upper body tests of muscular strength and endurance among seventh and eighth grade males…

Background: It is known that suburban youth are more fit than urban youth in Croatia. Method: Differences (p < 0.05) in fitness levels and motor abilities of 9,164 (F = 4,671, M = 4,493) Croatian children (age range: 11-14 years) from urban (F = 1,380, M = 1,268), mixed rural-urban (F = 274, M = 289), and rural (F = 3017, M = 2936) areas were…

The aim of the study was to examine the effect of a 4-week classroom physical activity break intervention on middle school students' health-related physical fitness. The study was a randomized controlled trial with students assigned to the experiment and control conditions. A convenience sample comprised 94 adolescents (experiment group n = 52;…

Background: This study examined the association between fitness change and subsequent academic performance in Taiwanese schoolchildren from 7th grade to 9th grade. Methods: The 7th graders from 1 junior high school district participated in this study (N=669). Academic performance was extracted from school records at the end of each grade.…

The purpose of this single-group pre- and posttest intervention pilot study was to teach middle school migrant farmworker children the benefits of healthy eating and activity using a multimedia and ethnic-tailored health curriculum, embedded in a 7-week summer Migrant Education Program. Conceptual frameworks were from transcultural nursing,…