IMPROVING ENDURANCE LEVELS IN MIDDLE SCHOOL CHILDREN THROUGH RUNNING EXERCISES IN THE FRAMEWORK OF PHYSICAL RECREATION

Abstract

The article addresses issues related to maintaining and improving the physical fitness levels, particularly endurance, of middle school children through running exercises in the framework of physical recreation. One of the main solutions to this problem with schoolchildren could be comprehensive activities based on combining various types of physical activity with running exercises. The evaluation of the implementation results of an experimental program based on the comprehensive use of running exercises in the framework of physical recreation for 5th and 6th-grade students was carried out through a pedagogical experiment, assessing the changes in physical fitness indicators compared to the corresponding changes in control groups. The assessment of physical fitness levels at the beginning of the pedagogical experiment indicates an uneven development of various aspects of physical fitness in 5th and 6th-grade students during physical education. Pedagogical testing revealed that the most underdeveloped physical quality among the participants was endurance. The analysis of specific motor test results showed that 51% of the children had a low level of endurance development, 45% had a medium level, and 4% of students had a sufficient level of endurance development. The pedagogical experiment demonstrated the high effectiveness of running-based activities within the framework of physical recreation. Specifically, the statistically significant final increases in the indicators of specialized test exercises in the experimental group ranged from 12% to 24%. In the control group, the increases in these test indicators ranged from 9% to 20%. The results of the pedagogical experiment showed that the highest outcomes in the control tests, reflecting endurance development, were achieved by the 5th and 6th-grade students in the experimental group compared to the results of the control group students. Thus, the proposed program of running-based activities within the framework of physical recreation is effective in improving the physical fitness levels of middle school children and in developing their endurance.