Aerobic performance of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University students in Košice in reflection on their physical activity after Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

The aim of our paper was to evaluate the level of aerobic performance in students of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice (UPJŠ) in reflection to their physical activity (PA) after the COVID-19 pandemic. The research pool for the assessment of the COVID-19 pandemic impact on PA consisted of 675 UPJŠ students (466 females and 209 males). Aerobic endurance data were obtained from the results of a 20-meter multistage endurance shuttle run (beep test). In our research, we found a negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students´ PA in almost 1/4 of all the respondents. Considering current standard for both sexes, women showed better results than men did in aerobic performance. Comparing the aerobic performance in the groups of students with and without the negative effect of pandemic on PA, we found a significant difference (p < 0.01) in the male group. Comparing our VO2max results with a similar study by Zadarko et al. (2010), we observed a significant decrease in performance in the „excellent” (–11.9%) and „fair” (–6.3%) norms in women. However, we found an increase in the „good” level (+24.4%). We recorded a decrease in the number of performances in the „superior” (–14.7%) and „excellent” (–9.3%) norms in males and we observed an increase in the „fair” (+13.7%) and „poor” (+10.6%) groups. Our results confirmed negative impact of the pandemic on undergraduates´ physical activity. Repeated PA restriction in the future may not only permanently reduce aerobic fitness of physically active people, but also increase the risk of various health problems.

Keywords

• VO2max
• beep test
• lifestyle