Physical fitness of primary school children in relation to overweight prevalence and physical activity habits

A cross-sectional study was carried out to analyze, through a limited number of fitness tests, the main conditioning and coordinative abilities in children aged 8-9 years, and their relationship with gender, anthropometric variables and physical activity habits. Height and weight of 256 boys and 241 girls were measured and information about physical activity habits was collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Physical performance was assessed by means of a few standardized tests: Sit&Reach, medicine-ball forward throw, standing long jump, 20m running speed, and forward roll test. In both boys and girls, body weight and BMI were positively correlated with the medicine-ball throw performances, negatively for the standing long jump and speed tests, while no association was found with tests measuring back flexibility and total body coordination. Daily physical activity and participation in sport were not significantly correlated with body weight and BMI, but were positively associated with children's motor performance. The standardized fitness tests selected in the current study have been found suitable to identify fitness levels of primary school children. Thanks to their limited number and ease of measurement, they can be used in any school context to classify children and for monitoring the effects of targeted interventions promoting physical activity.