PhD E.A. Zyurin²
E.N. Petruk²
PhD, Associate Professor E.N. Bobkova^1
1Smolensk State Academy of Physical Culture, Sport and Tourism, Smolensk
²Federal Scientific Center for Physical Culture and Sports, Moscow

Keywords: physical qualities, physical fitness, GTO Complex tests, physical education and sports, healthy lifestyle, physical activity.

Background. Traditional popular physical education and sports and health-prioritizing physical education and sport services are increasingly versatile nowadays in their forms and methods and include multiple physical education and sports events; demo/ motivational/ healthy lifestyle promotion and physical activation initiatives/ actions; group/ individual/ club physical education and sports training and self-reliant physical education and sports activity facilitation services [4]. It should be mentioned that the individual preferences in the physical education and sport service sector are characteristic of the personality physical education and sports / heath agendas. Main personality physical education and sports agendas and physical activity test rates and analyses generally characterize the healthy needs for movement and ways to satisfy them [5]. The individual physical education and sport activity forms, intensities, timeframes and regularities – are indicative of the group satisfaction with the specific physical activity forms [3].

The actual range of accessible physical education and sports / health-improvement service forms and methods and the group/ individual commitments for the services may be indicative of the physical education and sport service system efficiency [2]. As things now stand, it is the GTO Complex system that provides the most accessible and broad-based popular physical education and sport service system with the age-specific physical progress test standards and mechanisms [6]. It may be beneficial to analyze the public demand for specific physical exercises in the GTO Complex test system and the group-specific physical qualities / physical fitness test rates.

Objective of the study was to analyze physical qualities / physical fitness test data reported by the popular GTO Complex test system on the age- and gender-specific basis.

Methods and structure of the study. We used for the study the physical qualities / physical fitness (speed, endurance, strength and flexibility) test data of the national 6-plus year old population (n= 2,050,019) reported by the GTO Complex test system [7].

Results and discussion. Speed was rated by the 3x10m/ 30m/ 60m/ 100m sprint tests, with the highest speeds demonstrated by the 25-49 year old males and females ((72.6% and 60.4%, respectively); whilst in the 6-24 year old groups, 49.2% and 50.9% of males and females were tested excellent and 50.8% and 49.1 moderate and low on the speed rating scale, respectively: see Tables 1 and 2.

Table 1. Speed test rates of the male age groups

Table 2. Speed test rates of the female age groups

Generally speed was tested high in the adult groups and moderate in the 6-24 year old groups. The test data showed the adult groups being more skilled in sprint and motivated for the tests, whilst the young groups, including students were tested less skilled in the sprint techniques – that means that the school/ university physical education and sports curricula need to be updated to make a special emphasis on the running techniques and run speed training tools. The least popular of the three speed rating sprint tests was the 100m (chosen by 12% of the sample); followed by 60m (39.3%) and 3x10m and 30m (48.7%) sprints.

Endurance was rated by the 1000m/ 1500m/ 2000m/ 3000m race tests and 1000m/ 2000m combined (walking + running) tests, plus the 3000m Nordic walking test. Generally the adult groups were tested fairly high on this test scale, while the 6-24 year-olds were tested relatively low: see Tables 3 and 4.

Table 3. Overall endurance test rates of the male age groups

Table 4. Overall endurance test rates of the female age groups

Analysis of the above data shows the relatively low endurance rates in the 6-24 year old males and females (36% and 45.7%, respectively); whilst the 50+ year old seniors, despite the natural physiological regresses, were tested fairly high on this scale (66.1% and 60.6%, respectively). On the whole, the endurance tests demonstrated the need for the physical education curricula in the national educational system to be updated correspondingly.

Strength was rated by the pull-ups on a high/ low bar, prone push-ups and 16kg kettlebell snatch (males) tests. The tests ranked the 25-49 year old groups the highest on the strength scale: see Tables 5 and 6.

Table 5. Strength test rates of the male age groups

Table 6. Strength test rates of the female age groups

The strength tests ranked the 6-24 year old females relatively low (46%) in the sample, and this finding should be taken into account by the full-time and advanced physical education service systems. One of two 50-plus year old females was successful in winning a gold badge in the tests. The 6-24 and 25-49 year old males were tested fairly high and close on the strength scale ​​(53.5% and 54.8%, respectively), that is natural for the human ontogenesis – i.e. the strength progress in juniors and regress in adults. It may also be pertinent to mention that strength is tested by three and two tests in the male and female groups, respectively, and it may be beneficial to make these GTO tests gender-unspecific for equality in this domain.

Flexibility was expectedly tested highest in the 6-24 year old males and females: see Tables 7 and 8.

Table 7. Flexibility test rates of the male age groups

Table 8. Flexibility test rates of the female age groups

Of special interest in the above data are the low flexibility test rates in the 25-49 year old males and 50+ year old females – that may be due to the natural anatomical and physiological regress with age in the joint motility and muscle/ tendons elasticity on the other hand, and the too challenging flexibility test standards on the other hand. It may be reasonable to have the GTO Class VIII test standards for these age groups revised; and pay more attention to the flexibility training service for the 35-plus year old population in view of the fact that flexibility is directly correlated with movement speed, coordination and strength abilities.

The test data and analyses give grounds to conclude that the physical qualities / physical fitness test rates in the age and gender groups are rather uneven, with the share of those who failed the GTO Complex tests estimated at 47.5% in 2018 – that means that half of the people tested were found unfit [1].

Conclusion. The GTO Complex test data and analysis showed the physical trainings and tests being of growing interest for different population groups committed for habitual physical education and sport service and progress tests. The physical education and sport service research and training communities are recommended giving more priority to new training models and tools to encourage physical progress of adults and improvements of the physical education and sport service curricula at every level of the national educational system.

References

1. Zyurin E.A., Kurentsov V.A., Bobkova E.N. Monitoring of physical fitness of population of constituent entities of the Russian Federation for RPCSC GTO VI-XI stage tests. Vestnik sportivnoy nauki. 2018. No. 4. pp. 46-50.
2. Zyurin E.A., Petruk E.N. Conditions to stimulate physical activity of adult population by creating accessible physical education and sports environment. Vestnik sportivnoy nauki. 2019. No. 2. pp. 69-75.
3. Zyurin E.A., Kurentsov A.V., Petruk E.N., Baryaev A.A. Identification of physical activity rates in adult population when training for GTO complex tests. Teoriya i praktika fiz. kultury. 2019. No.12. pp. 56-58.
4. Zyurin E.A., Petruk E.N., Bobkova E.N. Landmarks for development of physical training of adult population of the country]. National health as basis of Russia's prosperity. Proc. XIII nat. forum. OOO «Liga zdorovya natsii». Moscow, 2019. pp. 25-35.
5. Okunkov Yu.V., Zyurin E.A., Rodin K.S., Skorodumova O.M. Subjective and objective factors of introducing into physical education and sports. Vestnik sportivnoy nauki. 2019. No. 5. pp. 63-67.
6. Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of June 11, 2014 No. 540 “On approval of the Regulations on Russian physical culture and sports complex“ Ready for labour and defense ”(with amendments and additions). [Electronic resource] Available at: http://base.garant.ru/70675222/ (date of access: 20.12.2019).
7. Order of the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation of 12.02.2019 No. 90 "On the approval of state requirements of Russian physical culture and sports complex" Ready for labour and defense". [Electronic resource] Available at: https://minjust.consultant.ru/documents/42248 (date of access: 20.12.2019).

Corresponding author: rudra54@yandex.ru

Abstract

Objective of the study was to analyze physical qualities / physical fitness test data reported by the popular GTO Complex test system on the age- and gender-specific basis.

Methods and structure of the study. We used for the study the physical qualities / physical fitness (speed, endurance, strength and flexibility) test data of the national 6-plus year old population (n= 2,050,019) reported by the GTO Complex test system.

Speed was rated by the 3x10m/ 30m/ 60m/ 100m sprint tests. Endurance was rated by the 1000m/ 1500m/ 2000m/ 3000m race tests and 1000m/ 2000m combined (walking + running) tests, plus the 3000m Nordic walking test. Strength was rated by the pull-ups on a high/ low bar, prone push-ups and 16kg kettlebell snatch (males) tests.

The flexibility rates in the boys (young males) and girls (young females) were determined between 6 and 24 years of age.

Results and conclusions. The test data and analyses give grounds to conclude that the physical qualities / physical fitness test rates in the age and gender groups are rather uneven, with the share of those who failed the GTO Complex tests estimated at 47.5% in 2018 – that means that half of the people tested were found unfit.

The GTO Complex test data and analysis showed the physical trainings and tests being of growing interest for different population groups committed for habitual physical education and sport service and progress tests. The physical education and sport service research and training communities are recommended giving more priority to new training models and tools to encourage physical progress of adults and improvements of the physical education and sport service curricula at every level of the national educational system.