The purpose of this study was to assess the general level of physical activity (PA) among predominantly Hispanic college population. In addition, the study examined the relationships between the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) constructs and PA. One hundred participants completed the questionnaire in regard to PA and SCT. The results of this study showed that 59% of the sample met recommendations for PA. Furthermore, self-efficacy was the only significant predictor of PA METS, β = .35, p < .01. This study helps understand the relationship between the SCT constructs and PA, suggesting that maintaining the SCT processes will lead to regular PA. Thus, encouraging and targeting PA together with cognitive changes might be of great interest for future research. 

The ample attendance of adults in dancing associations in order to learn Greek traditional dancing has rendered it necessary to investigate the reasons that lead them to participate in such activities. The aim of this study is to investigate whether the demographic characteristics constitute differentiation factors of the attendance motives in Greek traditional dancing classes. Adapted on the Greek population the Participation Motivation Questionnaire by Gill, Gross, and Huddleston (1983) was used for the data collection. In the study 454 individuals of over 30 years of age who were taught Greek dancing in dancing associations took part. A frequency analysis, OneñWay Anova and Man Whitney U test was used for the data statistical process. From the results it seems that the demographic characteristics of the sample partly differentiate the factors of the attendance. More specifically, age and years of attendance do not in the least influence the motives of attendance (p<.05) while sex, educational level, place of residence and previous dancing experience partly influence the attendance motives (p<.05).

The concept of sustainability is usually linked with environmental issues. Accepting the idea of the body as an inner environment, it is possible to outline a more sustainable approach to sport didactics that doesnít jeopardise the youth's later willingness for sports. The red thread running through the theoretical references and didactic examples is a way of teaching that privileges communicative to functional/thermo dynamical aspects. The sustainable didactics is the synthesis of several methodological approaches developed in the in the field of Sport for All. 

Supracondylar fractures of humerus are the most frequent arm fractures in childhood. Complications of these fractures most often take the form of elbow contractures. The aim of this paper was to determine effects of rehabilitation treatment and characteristics of elbow contractures. During five-year period (2005-2010), 61 patients with posttraumatic elbow contracture were treated at the Institute for Children and Youth Health Care of Vojvodina. Flynnís three-grade scale was applied to determine the elbow mobility level, prior to treatment and at its end. After the completed physical treatment, there is a highly statistically significant difference in terms of increased flexion and extension of elbow (p0.0001). In 90.16% children, the result was satisfactory upon completed physical treatment. By means of combined application of different forms of physical therapy, treatment results of elbow contractures after supracondylar fractures have significantly improved.

The aim of this paper is to define a simple mathematical model for estimating general jumping preparedness of senior female volleyball players (SCOREpoint) by applying a set of 7 variables measured by standardized tests within the field measuring conditions. The sensitivity of this model is determined on the basis of achieved points and differences in general jumping preparedness among female volleyball players competing in elite international competitions, elite national competitions, state-level and regional-level competitions. Applied battery of tests has cumulatively explained 80.64% of the total variant of measurement. The defined model explained the criterion of general jumping preparedness of senior female volleyball players at the level of 100% (Adj. R 2 = 1.000), and with the minor error in prediction (Std. Err. Est. = 0.003 SCOREpoint points). The obtained model has the following form: SCOREpoint = -86.762 + (0.4595 · CMJARM + 0.5158 · CMJNOARM + 0.4620 · SJCONARM + 0.4812 · SJCONCNOARM + 0.5431 · CMBJ + 0.5626 · SJCONCBJ + 0.138 · SLJ. The defined model has a satisfactory level of discrimination and it is proposed for further practical use.

Usage of unallowed stimulative drugs for recovery implies consuming or giving to others substances which artificially improve physical and psychical condition of an athlete and thus improve his/her success in sport. The goal of the study is to examine attitudes of football players of various length of sports experience, towards unallowed stimulative substances for recovery. The sample of examinees consists of 120 football players divided into two groups, on basis of the sports experience length (first group: 4-8 years of sport experience, second group: 9-14 years). The sample of variables consists of a system of 10 items (claims) assessed on a 5-grade scale. The importance of the differences between the groups was determined by a multivariate and univariate analysis of variance, discriminative analysis, Royís test, Pearson's coefficient of contingency and the coefficient of multiple correlation. It is evident that football players of different length of sport experience differ among themselves in their attitudes towards unallowed drugs for recovery, however, those differences are not big.

Normal aging is characterized by muscular atrophy and a loss of force-generating capacity. The goal of this research was to investigate the age and sport activity type on postural (vastus lateralis) and non postural (biceps femoris) muscles’ contraction time in 170 master athletes (athletic events) and 51 non athletes. We found significant age effect in postural muscle (P = 0.032) and also in non postural muscle (P < 0.001). However, we found sport activity type effect significant just in non postural muscle (P < 0.001). The interaction effect of age * sport was significant in both observed muscles. Sprinters/jumpers deteriorate with age the most in postural muscle, while non athletes in non postural muscle. We could conclude that non postural muscle deteriorate the most without regular sport activity, while postural muscle have enough daily stimuli to be prevented from major deterioration. 

The aim of the present study was to determine habitual physical activity differences between adult women residing in an urban area and adult women residing in a rural area in Greece. Additionally differences in physical activity of high intensity, moderate intensity physical activity as well as walking were also assessed. Subjects in this study were 198 adult women (41.2 + 8.3 years), 98 of them resided at the city of Arta and 100 resided in villages in the respective prefecture. Physical activity was recorded with the long version of the self administered International Physical Activity Questionnaire (Craig et al., 2003). The dependent variables that were included in data analysis included the total score of physical activity, the score of high intensity physical activity, moderate intensity physical activity and walking. “Place of residence” was the constant factor used in the analysis of data. According to the results of the ANOVA Multiple Analysis of Variance a significant residence effect was reported for the factor area of residence for total physical activity score (F(1,196) = 6,075, p = .05) in favor of women residing in urban districts. Additionally, according to the results of Multiple Analysis of Variance adult women residing in urban districts were significant more active in physical activity related to work (F(1,196) = 14,908, p = .000) and to recreation (F(1,196) = 7,230, p = .008). Women residing in rural areas scored higher in physical activity related to taking care of others and the house (F(1,196) = 83,667, p = .000). No differences were detected in physical activity related to transportation (F(1,196) = 1,127, p = .290). In conclusion women residing in villages in rural districts of Arta Prefecture were more active when compared to adult women residing in the city of Arta only when taking care of others or the house.

Physical inactivity is the second most significant risk factor for chronic non-infectious contagious diseases in developed countries. However, conditions have slightly improved in the past few years; still, only 20 % of the population is being active in a fashion to reduce the probability of cardiovascular complications. Epidemiological research has confirmed that regular physical activity and nutrition containing sufficient quantities of folic acid, vitamins B6 and B12, reduce the level of homocysteine in blood. In our research, we studied the influence of long-lasting inactivity on the level of homocysteine and folic acid levels in blood. Ten male subjects were resting in horizontal position for 35 days in a clinical setting. After 35 days of resting we documented a statistically relevant increase in homocysteine level and decrease of folic acid concentration, despite supervised nutrition. We can conclude that prolonged physical inactivity is an autonomous, independent risk factor for the development of cardiovascular diseases. 

Physical – sport inactivity is often associated with loss of muscle mass, positive energy balance, fat gain, injuries, motor incompetence, and many others negative effects. The goal of this study was to evaluate loss of muscle function and performance as a response to total physical inactivity. Ten healthy male volunteers (age: 23.3 ± 2.2 years; body height: 179 ± 7.1 cm; body mass: 75.2 ± 9.3 kg) were measured before and after 35 days of horizontal bed rest. Energy intake was adapted from the beginning of the bed rest and associated with weekly changes in body mass and fat mass. Peak muscle power and maximal jump height was measured during vertical jump test, performed before and after bed rest. Maximum jumping power and jumping height decreased significantly after bed rest, for 10 W·kg-1 (19.2 %; P<0.001) and 11.2 (22 %; P<0.001), respectively. Inter subjects’ variability of the jumping height results was in the range from 8.6 % to 49.1 % and for jumping height from 6.8 % to 31.3 %. Results of this study confirm that vertical jump test demands vigorous human performance and should be conducted after bed rest studies in special care and considering huge inter subject variability in designing studies.