HEALTH-RELATED PHYSICAL FITNESS IN SCHOOLCHILDREN: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CHILDREN WITH NORMAL BMI AND OVERWEIGHT OF SANTA CRUZ DO SUL-RS

Abstract

The present cross-sectional study aims to verify possible differences in health-related physical fitness of schoolchildren with normal BMI, overweight and obese of Santa Cruz do Sul - RS. The subjects of this research were 18 children and teenagers, being 10 males and 8 females, aged 9 to 11 years old, of a state school in the municipality of Santa Cruz do Sul / RS. To evaluate the health-related physical aptitude, tests created by Project Sport Brazil (BR-PROESP, 2009) were conducted: abdominal (abdominal strength/resistance); seating and reaching the Wells bench (flexibility) and body mass index (BMI). The results were entered into spreadsheet StatisticalPackage for Social Sciences for Windows (SPSS version 20.0) and analyzed using descriptive statistics. It was found that 33,3% of the schoolchildren presented excess weight and related to this: a) low flexibility indexes in 100% of the schoolchildren with excess weight and in 58,33% of the ones with normal weight; b) lower abdominal resistance presented by 59,09% of those evaluated, with frequency of 100% in overweight individuals; c) greater occurrence of individuals in the risk zone for overweight in male schoolchildren. Therefore, the study suggests a relationship between excess weight and lower levels of physical fitness of schoolchildren, regarding flexibility and abdominal muscle strength. This fact highlights the importance of encouraging the practice of physical activity for improving the framework of obesity as well as to develop physical fitness, aiming to health.