Influence of an active recess program on the physical condition of Primary Education students

The overweight and obesity of the child population is considered a global health epidemic. Low levels of physical activity along with sedentary behaviors are two of the triggers. In this sense, it is interesting to develop programs to promote physical activity in healthy parameters from schools. In addition to the Physical Education sessions, recesses are an ideal time to carry out physical activity. The objective of this study is to know the effects that a program based on active breaks has on the level of physical condition of Primary Education students. The sample consisted of two groups, an experimental group with 22 participants (13 boys and 9 girls) and a control group with 20 subjects (8 boys and 12 girls) aged between 10 and 12 years. The experimental group took active breaks for 8 weeks, three times a week, making a total of 24 sessions. The active recess program consisted of playing one of the five scheduled games for 20 minutes (mate, 3 in a row, pichi, handkerchief and cops and robbers). The level of physical condition was measured by means of the Alpha Fitness battery, at the beginning and at the end of the program. The results show a better level of physical condition in boys compared to girls, as well as a significant improvement in the dynamometry, agility and endurance tests of the experimental group. It is concluded that the realization of active breaks improved the levels of physical fitness levels of the participants.