DEBRE MARKOS UNIVERSITY

SPORT SCIENCE ACADEMY

SPORT SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

EFFECTS OF EIGHT WEEK AEROBIC EXERCISE ON STUDENTS

HEALTH RELATED PHYSICAL FITNESS QUALITIES OF DEBRE

MARKOS SECONDARY SCHOOL, AMHARA REGION

By:

Rahel Getachew

Advisor:

Ashenafi Kefyalew (Ph.D)

October 2024

Debre Markos, Ethiopia

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Background of the study
Physical education is one of the subjects which are given to teach in schools around the world.
Itis usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor
learning by using a play, utilization of various structured physical activity and movement
exploration setting to promote health and physical fitness (Anderson, 1989). Activities in
physical education include football, volleyball, athletics, gymnastics, and other numerous other
children’s games. Physical education also teaches nutrition, healthy habits, and individuality of
needs (Mitchell, 2016).

Fitness education is one curricular approach in Physical education, aimed on teaching students
the science behind why they have to be physically active in their lives and improvement and the
maintenance of individual student fitness. Lonsdale et al., (2013) suggested that an education
curriculum that includes physical fitness activities can significantly increase the number of time
spent in moderate or vigorous intensity physical activity.

Regular participation in physical workout has a significant positive effect on people's

health and well-being (Lykesas et al., 2017). Successively improved health and well-being
positively influence quality of life and society as a whole. So as to satisfy a high quality of life,
peoples participate in numerous styles of physical activities to enhance their own health related
fitness components includes cardiovascular fitness, muscular endurance, muscular strength,
flexibility and weight.

Health-Related physical fitness as defined by Plowman (2011), is the portion of physical fitness
directed toward the prevention of or rehabilitation from illness, the development of a high level
of purposeful capacity for the required and discretionary tasks of life, and therefore the
maintenance or improvement of physiological functions in biological systems that are not
concerned in performance but are influenced by habitual activity. According to Plowman (2011),
having recommended level of health related component of physical fitness helps a person to
fulfill emerge, decrease the risk of developing disease and injury, increment of work efficiency,
perform and enjoy in physical activity. Thus, this study will aim at investigating the result of
aerobic exercise on health-related physical fitness qualities on menkorere secondary school
students.

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Statement of the problem
Physical education is one component of secondary school curriculum in Ethiopia. One of the
focuses of physical education in school is developing physical fitness of student. According to
Siedentop (2004), fitness is a general term which includes the improvement and maintenance of
specific physical qualities in both health and skill related components. There are basically two
classes of fitness components, those significantly associated with health and those associated
with motor talent performance of specific purposeful motor tasks. The health related fitness parts
embrace aerobic fitness, muscular strengths, flexibility, muscular endurance and body
composition.

A regular physical activity included in physical education curriculum promotes growth and
development and has multiple advantages for physical, mental, and psychosocial health that
contribute to learning. Single sessions of long-term participation in an exceedingly physical
activity improve psychological feature performance and brain health. Youngsters who participate
in a vigorous or moderate intensity of physical activity profit the foremost (IOM, 2013).

According to Wuest and Bucher (2003), the number of students taking part in daily physical
education is declining; some researches show that, daily participation in physical education by
high school students reduced. Physical education programs in high school are criticized for
declining students’ fitness level for failure to teach sport skills for lifespan participation, and for
poor quality. School physical education programs additionally face constraints because of fund
issues, the time allotted to physical education is minimized (Wuest and Bucher, 2003).

Even though most people know the benefit of regular physical activity, most adults and many
children still lead a relative sedentary lifestyle and are not active enough to achieve many health
benefits. Worldwide, it is estimated that over 60% of adults are simply not active enough to
benefits their health (WHO, 2003). From adolescence onward, physical activity decline
significantly with age. Physical activity and physical education programs are declining in
schools. Physical inactivity is generally higher among girls and women. The overall inactivity
trend is worse in poor urban areas (WHO, 2003).

The increasing prevalence of sedentary behavior among adolescents poses significant health
risks, including obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and decreased physical fitness levels (Tremblay

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et al., 2016). Despite the known benefits of physical activity, many secondary school students
fail to meet the recommended guidelines for aerobic exercise. This lack of engagement in
physical activity can lead to detrimental effects on health-related physical fitness qualities, such
as cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, flexibility, and body composition (Pate and
O’Neill, 2008).

The purpose of this study will to discover the effect of aerobic exercise on health-related
physical fitness qualities of menkorere secondary school.

Objective
General Objective

The general objective of this study will explore the effect of eight week aerobic exercise on
students’ level of health related physical fitness qualities of menkorer secondary school.

Specific objectives
 Evaluate the effect of eight week aerobic exercise on cardiovascular fitness of students.

 Find out the effect of eight week aerobic exercise on students flexibility.

 Evaluate the effect of eight week aerobic exercise on muscular strength of students.

 Identify the effect of eight week aerobic exercise on body composition of students.

 Compare the effect of eight week aerobic exercise on students’ level of health related physical
fitness qualities across gender.

Method
The study will employ quasi-experimental design with two groups. The two groups
(experimental and comparison) will receive different treatments of the independent variable. The
experimental group will receive eight week aerobic exercise whereas the comparison group will
receive usual exercise given through school physical education curriculum.

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Method of data analysis
The collected data which will gather through physical fitness tests before and after the
intervention will arrange, record and code in the appropriate formats and finally it will analyze
depending upon the research objectives. Independent sample t-test will use to compare any
significant difference between the two groups before the intervention. To evaluate the effect of
aerobic exercise on health related physical fitness qualities the researcher will use paired sample
t-test. Independent sample t-test on the posttest score of experimental group also used to compare
the effect of aerobic exercise on students’ level of health related physical fitness qualities
between genders. Additionally, the researcher used paired sample t-test to compare the effect of
intervention from pre to posttest. Before the analysis, assumptions for normality will check by
skewness and kurtosis test.

References

Anderson, D. (1989). The discipline and the profession foundations of Canadian physical education,
recreation, and sport studies. Dubuque, JA: Wm. C. Brown publishers.

Institute of Medicine. (2013). Educating the student body: Taking physical activity and physical
education to schools. Washington DC: the national academic press.

Lonsdale, C., R. R. Rosenkranz, L. R. Peralta, A. Bennie, P. Fahey, & D. R. Lubans (2013). A

systematic review and meta-analysis of interventions designed to increase moderate-to- vigorous physical
activity in school physical education lessons. Preventive medicine 56(2): 152-161.

Lykesas, G., Giosos, I., Theocharidou, O., Chatzopoulos, D., & Koutsouba, M. (2008). The effect of
a traditional dance program on health related quality of life as perceived by primary school students.

Journal of education and training studies. Vol. 6, No. 1: 96-103.

Mitchell, S. (2016). The Essential of Teaching Physical Education. Shape America – Society of health
and physical educators. P p. 1 (4).

Polwman, A.S. & L.S. Denise, (2011). Exercise Physiology for Health, Fitness and performance.

(3 rd ed.). USA; Lippin cott Williams and Wilkins book.

Siedentop, D. (2004). Introduction to physical education fitness and sport. (5 th ed.). New York: McGraw
Hill High Education.

Wuest, D. A., & Bucher, C.A. (2003). Foundation of Physical education, exercise Science, and

sport. (14 th ed.). The MacGraw-Hill Companies.