Physical Culture and Sports as an Educational Basis of Students' Healthy Physical Activities during and Post-Lockdown COVID-19 Restrictions.

(1) Background: The SARS-CoV-2 virus manifests itself in many aspects of everyday life, among which one of the most frequently accentuated are changes in physical activity from the perspective of lockdown mobility limitations. The aim of this study was to assess the level of physical activity in groups of students with different levels of educational engagement in physical activity while taking into account the realities of remote and traditional education. (2) Methods: The study was conducted among 200 students of 3 majors with varying degrees of curriculum related to physical activity, including students of physical education (n-73), tourism and recreation (n-65) and students of a non-physical education major (n-62). The survey technique used was the short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). (3) Results: PE students are the most engaged in physical activity compared to other study groups. This pattern is particularly true for high physical activity. An interesting observation is that, in the post-lockdown period, there was no statistically significant difference between the physical activity levels of PE students and TR students. Meanwhile, such a difference in favor of PE students was evident during the lockdown period. (4) Conclusions: Educational links to physical activity appear to be an important factor in stimulating this activity during times of epidemiological emergency.

Physical Fitness as Part of the Health and Well-Being of Students Participating in Physical Education Lessons Indoors and Outdoors.

The analysis of existing information on physical activity and fitness as elements of health and well-being reveals that they are achieved particularly effectively in contact with nature. Physical education lessons outdoors, as a form of healthy training, have been performed in numerous countries for years, providing a response to the traditional indoor model of this kind of education. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the relationship between the participation of students in outdoor and indoor lesson activities and the change in their physical fitness. 220 students participated in an experimental study. The experimental group, which did exercise usually in open spaces, included 49 boys and 54 girls. The control group, which exercised inside school, consisted of 63 boys and 54 girls. The study period lasted two years and involved the fifth and sixth form of primary school. Experimental group subjects were 11.26 years old (±0.32) during the initial test, and the control group individuals were 11.28 years (±0.32). During the final test, the average ages of experimental group subjects was 12.96 years (±0.32), and 12.98 years (±0.32) in the control group. The International Physical Activity Test was applied in the study. The differences between the levels of particular components of physical fitness were not statistically significant during the initial measurement (p-values ranged from p = 0.340 to p = 0.884). After two years of outdoor physical education lessons, there was revealed a considerable increase in the speed, jumping ability, and aerobic endurance of the students. Statistically significant differences were observed in these three tests, including running speed (p = 0.001), legs power (p = 0.001), and endurance (p = 0.000). The findings encourage one to continue pedagogical experiments regarding physical activity in outdoor natural environments.

Sense of Coherence and Connectedness to Nature as Predictors of Motivation for Practicing Karate.

Background: Physical activity yields exceptionally positive results when it takes place out in the open air, in contact with nature. Both contact with nature and practicing sport constitute a certain kind of philosophy of life and living by its rules plays a vital role in positive mental health-understood as maintaining a high sense of coherence. Martial arts are examples of sports that are rooted in a philosophy. The goal of this study was to explore the links between a sense of coherence and connectedness to nature in the context of motivations for practicing karate. Methods: A total of 127 practitioners of karate were examined using the Inventory of Physical Activity Objectives (IPAO), the Sense of Coherence Questionnaire, and the Connectedness to Nature Scale. Results: The most important objective for women training karate was a fit, shapely body, and for men the most important objective was physical fitness. Connectedness to nature had the strongest positive relationship with the measure of physical fitness (in both genders). A sense of comprehensibility increased men's motivational conflict, whereas, in women, this IPAO dimension was positively related to feeling emotionally connected to the natural world. Connectedness to nature was related to motivational conflict positively in women and negatively in men. Feeling emotionally connected to the natural world correlated with a sense of comprehensibility, a sense of manageability, and a sense of meaningfulness. Sense of comprehensibility and sense of meaningfulness tended to increase with age. Conclusions: Understanding both the natural environment and the utility of setting sport-related goals led to increasing one's efforts on the way to both successes and defeats, and, most of all, overcoming one's weaknesses.