Comparison of Four Approaches to Increasing Physical Fitness

Abstract

An attempt was made to study the relative effectiveness of four approaches to increasing physical fitness in male college freshmen. A freshmen orientation class was randomly divided into four groups of 12 students each to receive one of the following treatments: (a) calisthenics, games, and sports with a periodic knowledge of results; (b) calisthenics, games, and sports without a knowledge of results; (c) games and sports with a periodic knowledge of results; and (d) games and sports without a knowledge of results. The Indiana Motor Fitness Test was used to determine the subject's physical fitness index at the first, sixth, twelfth, eighteenth, and twenty-fourth class session. Knowledge of results seemed to have more effect on physical fitness than 15 minutes of calisthenics at the beginning of each class.