Relationship of health related physical fitness variables to academic achievement of high school boys

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to find out the relationship of Health Related Physical Fitness Variables to Academic achievement of High School boys. To achieve the purpose of the study eight hundred sixty nine Male adolescent students, (N=869) in grades from 8 th through 10 th ranging in age between 13 to 15 years, from ten different recognized private schools of Mysore city, Were selected as subjects. Assessment of Health related fitness variables was made, that included, strength (grip And leg Strength) using a grip dynamometer and leg dynamometer; Cardio respiratory endurance (Harvard Step Test); Flexibility (sit and reach Test); Muscular endurance, (Sit-up Test); Body composition–BMI (Quetelet’s Index). Academic achievement was considered as the academic performance of the subjects measured in terms of percentage of marks obtained in the examinations conducted by the schools, as given in the school records. Data of various measures obtained by the performance of subjects were analysed using product moment correlation and stepwise regression analysis. Analysis of data revealed that, Out of the seven variables only two variables, viz., cardio respiratory endurance and Flexibility were related to academic performance, whereas, the other variables did not correlate significantly with academic achievement. When the selected variables were regressed on academic achievement, only three variables viz., Flexibility, cardio respiratory endurance and body composition (BMI), emerged as major predictors of academic performance. Rest of the variables did not predict academic performance.