Physical And Perceptual Responses To Two FIT FIRST TEEN Sessions In Faroese 7th-grade Schoolchildren

PURPOSE: The FIT FIRST TEEN (FFT) is a physical activity program developed for school settings. The aim of the study was to evaluate the physical and perceptual acute responses of 7th-graders during two FFT sessions to investigate the effectiveness of the program to provide moderate to vigorous physical activity.
METHODS: Seventeen Faroese schoolchildren (age; 13.5±0.3 yrs, height; 164.8±8.4 cm, body weight; 58.0±12.5 kg; body fat; 22.1±8.3 %; Yo-Yo IR1C score; 1284±765 m) performed two representative 40-min sessions of FFT in a school setting. The sessions’ themes were soccer (SOC) and running (RUN). Heart rate (HR), rate of perceived exertion (RPE 1-10) and the How Happy Scale (HHS 1-4) were applied to evaluate fun during the sessions.
RESULTS: Peak HR during RUN and SOC were similar at 181±15 and 183±15 bpm corresponding to 92±6 and 94±9% HRmax. RUN and SOC were also seen to elicit similar average HR of 142±16 vs 136±17 bpm corresponding to 73±8 vs. 70±9% HRmax. Time spent in Moderate or higher HR zones (>63%) was equal for RUN and SOC with 71.2±17 vs. 65.6±25% of total time, where time above Vigorous HR zone (>76% HRmax) tended (P=0.09) to be higher in RUN than SOC with 42±22 vs. 30±18% of total time.
Maximal and total RPE were 3.1±1.8 and 3.2±1.5 in SOC, which was similar to RUN (4.1±1.9 and 4.3±1.6, respectively). However, the HHS session score tended (p=0.07) to be higher after SOC (2.9±0.8) than after RUN (2.5±0.8). Moreover, when evaluated as type of physical activity, SOC was generally rated higher (P<0.05) than RUN (3.1±0.8 vs 2.3±0.9).
CONLUSION: Soccer and running-based FFT sessions provided high heart rate loading, but with low RPE-scores. The soccer session provided higher HHS-scores than the running-based session.