Pepper et al. 2010

Pepper B, Nicholson G, Loney T and Carter J (2010). Streaming of school physical training by fitness – a novel and more personalised approach. Presented at the 15th Annual Congress of the European College of Sports Science 2010, Antayla (Book of Abstracts AID 1159).

Introduction. Traditionally, core subjects (e.g., English, Maths and Science) are streamed according to academic ability; however, school-based physical training (PT) programmes usually adopt a ‘one size fits all approach’.  Given the limited volume of PT typically scheduled per week and the often wide ranging fitness levels, streaming by physical ability was seen as an option to improve the efficacy of training. Method. All students (n=746) completed three maximal fitness tests at the beginning (T1) and end of the academic year (T2): one-mile run (RUN), 60 s push-up test (PU), and 60 s sit-up test (SU). Baseline RUN results were used to assign students to an ability group of decreasing fitness (G1, G2, G3, and G4). Obese students (body mass index > 30.0 kg/m2) were assigned to the priority PT group (PG). All groups participated up to twice a week in a specialised PT programme, consisting of running, circuits and sports, for a total of 22 non-continuous weeks. Heart rate (HR) monitoring systems (Polar Electro Oy, Finland) were used to record the duration and intensity of all PT sessions, with daily feedback provided to the instructors. Results. Overall, 76% of students improved their run time, 74% improved PU, and 74% improved SU.  Significant improvements were observed for RUN (mean ± SD, 00:51 ± 02:02 min:s), PU (7 ± 11 reps/min), and SU (5 ± 7 reps/min) from T1 to T2 (all P’s<0.001).  Lower ability groups (G2, G3, G4) and obese students (PG) exhibited greater improvements in RUN time compared to the top ability group (G1; all P’s<0.05). G4 experienced the largest improvement in RUN time (02:59 ± 02:17 min:s) compared to all other groups (all Ps<0.05).  There were no significant differences between changes in PU or SU scores between groups (all P’s>0.05) from T1 to T2.  During the previous academic year (no streaming) 41% of students improved their run time, 84% improved PU, and 24% improved SU. Discussion. The majority of students experienced improvements in RUN, PU, and SU, indicating that the specialised PT programme (employing ability groups and HR monitoring) was effective in increasing cardiovascular (CV) and muscular endurance fitness. Greater improvements in RUN time observed in lower ability groups may be due to low initial fitness and, therefore, lower thresholds to increase CV fitness. Interestingly, data showing that G4 experienced greater improvements in CV fitness than PG (selected on body size alone), opens debate on selection criteria of special population groups using only anthropometric measures; and either fitness measures alone, or a combination of both, may be more appropriate.