Gender differences among university students in flexibility and muscle strength: a pilot study

Abstract

The major objective of this study was identifying the differences
in morphological characteristics and motor abilities pertaining to
strength and flexibility between male and female students. The study
sample participants were male and female subjects aged between
18 and 32 years. The sample included 100 university students (50
males and 50 females). The variables used for anthropometric
measure assessment included the following: height, weight and body
mass index. The following variables were used to assess strength:
Strength shoulder extension left, Strength shoulder extension right,
Strength shoulder flexion left, Strength shoulder flexion right. The
study participants’ flexibility was tested by means of the following
variables: Еxtension body, Flexion body, Flexion body, Shoulder
flexion left, Shoulder extension left, Shoulder flexion right, Shoulder
extension right, Neck flexion, Neck extension, Neck lateral flexion
left, Neck lateral flexion right. Independent samples T-test was used
for determining statistically significant difference between genders for
parameters pertaining to strength and flexibility assessment for each
individual variable. The results of the tests used for determining the
levels of motor ability in male and female university students indicate
statistically significant differences at the level of the motor domain
strength but not for the motor domain flexibility, for which none of the
parameters measured showed statistically significant difference.