PhD, Associate Professor V.S. Sherin¹
Dr.Sc.Tech., Associate Professor A.V. Zamyatin¹
PhD, Associate Professor E.A. Sherina²
T.Y. Kolyaskina^3
1National Research Tomsk State University, Tomsk
²Tomsk Polytechnic University, Tomsk
³Russian Ministry of Sports, Moscow

Keywords: Russian Physical Culture and Sports “Ready for Labour and Defence” (GTO) Complex, online resources, mobile application tool, somatic type, intellectual data processing.

Background. Modern information technologies in general and online services in particular are highly popular today, particularly among young people, the popularity being largely due to the instantaneous accessibility of the online services, their user-friendliness, availability of online help and instruction manuals, confidentiality and the time-efficient “now and here” design concept.

The online technologies to facilitate training for the GTO Complex qualification tests are still understudied and under-represented today online despite the high interest of many researchers and users [2-4]. Smartphone users, for instance, are offered today the following 2 mobile applications related to the GTO Complex tests: (1) RPCSC GTO application that may be described as the adapted mobile version of the formal website www.gto.ru of the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation; and (2) Mobile application GTO Ready offered by a Yaroslavl-region-based provider company. Both of the applications give descriptions of the GTO test stages complete with the qualification test rate calculator plus a GTO-related news service.

It should be noted that neither the special reference literature nor on the relevant websites provide comprehensive information on training systems for the GTO Complex tests albeit it is a common knowledge that success in modern physical culture and sports is always attained via high-quality and systemic training systems duly supported by the relevant practical methodologies. To be duly motivated for any new activity on the whole and training for the GTO Complex tests in particular, one should clearly understand not only the training process objective and potential outcomes but also the process stages and specifics including the physical training process content, schedules, intensities, scopes etc. This is the reason why the modern training process improvement technologies like the intelligent tools for the physical training process design and management supported by the user-friendly manuals – may largely contribute to the efforts to lure and motivate people for systemic training for the GTO tests and qualifications. 

Objective of the study was to develop, test and implement a mobile application to facilitate training for the GTO Complex tests.

Methods and structure of the study. Methodologically, the proposed software product was designed based on the trainee’s constitution typing classification offered by William Sheldon [5], an American psychologist, plus the weekly physical training system dominated by the GTO Complex test exercises. It was in 1940 that William Sheldon offered there human body types: ectomorph, mesomorph and endomorph types with the types being quantified for every individual by the relevant rates. The body constitution rating system was later called the somatotyping system, with the individual mix of the types being referred to as somatotype.

The William Sheldon’s typology is still relevant nowadays. An individual somatotype is known to stay invariable over the whole life cycle no matter how serious the changes in the body anthropometric measurements and sizes are. Practitioners of somatic typing now assume that a somatotype formed by the age of 20-25 is the one that is genuine for the individual. The typing forms are widely applied today by coaches and nutritionists to improve the training process efficiency. Having determined individual somatotype, the coach may select the most effective exercises for the systemic individual training system; and the same approach may be applied to the training systems for the GTO Complex tests. Albeit the GTO Complex test qualification requirements are similar to the individuals of the same gender and age, the pre-test training systems should be still be customised to the individual somatotypes too.

The somatotyping system based on the William Sheldon’s typology may be logically accommodated by a mobile application software for the reason that every key parameter is measurable and may be input by the user in the standard online form and then the application software (“intelligent capacity”) of the system will design an individually customised training system for the GTO Complex tests with specific and ideally profiled weekly training schedules, scopes and intensities. The innovative component of the mobile application for the GTO test training system was implemented based on the relevant notional array developed for the study.

Study results and discussion. The mobile application of our design may be described as unique in the following aspects: its version applied for the GTO test training system design is customisable by the following individual parameters: gender (since the GTO Complex test standards are gender-specific); age (since the GTO Complex tests include 11 age-specific qualification stages); anthropometrical measurements (body height, weight, wrist circumference); with the parameters being input in the system to generate the individual weekly training regimes for the relevant GTO Complex tests. The individual weekly training regimen including the variable training loads are to be designed by the interactive technology to secure optimal training for the GTO Complex tests.

The anticipated benefits of the training model are secured by the training programs being designed on a sound methodological basis and flexibly individualised to secure the training process being highly efficient for the relevant GTO Complex test stage; the training service system was developed for a mobile prototype that was tested, and the tested mobile application was proved effective.

The mobile application may be applied for physical education of people of the Russian Federation in the ongoing process of the reinstated version of the Russian Physical Culture and Sport GTO Complex being implemented. Different physical culture and sports sector management bodies in regions of the Russian Federation, GTO test centres, physical training and sport organisations, educational establishments, companies and individuals including students are viewed as the potential clientele for the mobile product. The content of the mobile application may include standard exercises for the GTO Complex tests, examples of ideal execution and typical execution errors.

Conclusion. The proposed mobile application makes it possible to:

• Promote the GTO Complex brand and establish the relevant communication environment for it;
•  Design an individualised training program for the GTO Complex tests on the most efficient basis; and
• Offer a user-friendly interaction system with the data input and control interface.

References

1. Lubysheva L.I. Vserossiyskiy kompleks GTO kak faktor razvitiya fizkulturno-sportivnoy deyatelnosti vuza [Russian GTO complex as a factor of academic physical and sports development]. Sb. mater. Vseros. nauch.-prakt. konf. s mezhdunar. uchastiem «Fizicheskaya kultura, sport, turizm: nauchno-metodicheskoe soprovozhdenie» [Proc. res.-pract. conf. with int. participation "Physical culture, sport and tourism: scientific and methodological support"]. Perm, 2014, pp. 184-189.
2. Nagovitsyn R.S., Osokin G.V., Nikiforova N.A. Organizatsiya podgotovki studentov k testirovaniyu norm GTO na osnove mobilnykh tekhnologiy [Organization of students training for GAT tests using mobile technologies]. Sb. nauchno-metod. statey po itogam Vseros. konf. s mezhdunar. uchastiem "Vozrozhdenie Vserossiyskogo fizkulturno-sportivnogo kompleksa GTO: problemy, opyt, perspektivy" [Proc. All-Rus. conf. with int. participation "Russian physical culture and sports GTO complex revival: problems, experience and prospects"]. 2016, pp. 91-94.
3. Nagovitsyn R.S., Rassolova E.A., Senator S.Yu., Torbina I.I. Razrabotka portala dlya podgotovki studentov k testirovaniyu po normam GTO [Web portal design to prepare students for GTO tests]. Teoriya i praktika fiz. kultury, 2016, no. 1, pp. 39-42.
4. Nagovitsyn R.S., Vladykina I.V. Programma podgotovki k sdache norm Vserossiyskogo kompleksa «GTO» na osnove mobilnogo obucheniya [Training Program to Hit Standards of All-Russian Sports Complex “Ready for Labour and Defence” (GTO) Based on Mobile Learning]. Teoriya i praktika fiz. kultury, 2015, no. 1, pp. 46-48.
5. William H. Sheldon The varieties of human physique: An introduction to constitutional psychology (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1940).

Corresponding author: vladimirsherin@yandex.ru

Abstract

The available special reference literature on the subject and special websites provide little if any information on training for the GTO Complex qualification tests albeit such training is considered an important part of the GTO system. This is the reason for us to believe that it is highly important and timely at this juncture to develop, test and implement a mobile application tool to facilitate training for the GTO Complex tests, the tool being designed as a software product customizable for the trainee’s anthropometrical measurements, gender and age to train the qualifiers for the GTO Complex tests in the most efficient format.

Methodologically, the proposed software product was designed based on the trainee’s constitution typing (ectomorph, mesomorph or endomorph) offered by William Sheldon, an American psychologist, plus the weekly physical training schedules customised for the GTO Complex test application. The human body classification by somatotypes was logically factored in the mobile application since every its parameter is easily measurable and may be input by the user, whilst the proposed intellectual interface use the input data to design a user-customised training system for the GTO Complex tests with adjustable training schedules, loads and intensities so as to offer the individually optimal weekly training regimes.