Influence of Sex on the Acute Effect of Stretching on V Sit-and-Reach Scores in University Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of sex on the acute effect of static-passive one-session stretching on V sit-and-reach scores in university students. A sample of 76 college students aged 19-30 years were divided into a women group (n = 36) and men group (n = 40). During one session the students performed stretching exercises for the major body muscles using the static-passive technique. Hamstring and lower back muscles extensibility was estimated by the V-sit-and-reach test at the beginning and at the end of the stretching session. The results of the two-way ANOVA with the Bonferroni adjustment showed that females and males did not show a different response to the one-session stretching intervention (p > 0.05). However, both the women and men increased statistically their scores after performing the stretching session (p < 0.001). In conclusion, no differences have been found in the trainability of flexibility by sex. However, there are differences of flexibility by the sex of students, being the females, who obtained the highest marks in the V-sit-and-reach. All this knowledge could help coaches to design more effectives stretching programs.

Keywords

• Gender differences
• extensibility
• flexibility
• physical fitness
• trainability