Indian Journal of Health Sciences and Care

The benefits of physical fitness have been widely known in many domains of wellness. Components of health-related physical fitness are cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition.

To determine correlation between physical activity, physical fitness and academic achievement of school students and to find the difference of physical fitness status of boys and girls.

The study was conducted in 3 different schools of North Delhi. Four hundred Students were selected in the age group of 15 to 18 years. Their prior semester’s final percentage grades were used to assess their academic performance. Body composition fat percentage, grip strength, abdominal muscle endurance and flexibility was determined using BMI (Body Mass Index), Skin Fold Caliper Method, hand held dynamometer, curl ups and, sit-and-reach test respectively. Cardiovascular fitness was assessed using the 20-meter shuttle run test.

Physical activity and academic achievement were positively correlated (p <0.05). Additionally, the results revealed a substantial inverse relationship between academic achievement and aerobic capacity (r=−0.447), body mass index (r=−0.265), fat percentage (r=−0.371), and grip strength (r=−0.254). Academic achievement, flexibility and endurance did not significantly correlate (p>0.05). For each of the variables, there was a significant difference between boys and girls (p ≤0.05).

Study showed a significant correlation between specific components of physical fitness and academic achievement. Physical fitness is a factor in determining academic achievement, so programmes designed to encourage physical exercise in schools should focus on fitness in addition to promoting excellence in academic scores.