THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW NORMAL EXERCISE PROGRAMS TO IMPROVE HEALTH-RELATED PHYSICAL FITNESS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENTS

Abstract

This research aimed to 1) develop a new normal exercise program to enhance health-related physical
fitness for higher education students, and 2) study the effects of the new normal exercise program on health-related
physical fitness for higher education students. The research process was divided into four phases: 1) studying the
problems and needs for the program; 2) developing the program; 3) testing the program; and 4) evaluating and
summarizing the results of the program's use. The sample consisted of 60 higher education students selected
through simple random sampling, with 30 students in the experimental group and 30 students in the control group.
The activities were conducted over a period of 8 weeks, either 5 or 7 days per week. The tools used included 1)
the new normal exercise program and 2) a health-related physical fitness test. Data were analyzed using mean,
standard deviation, and t-tests at a statistical significance level of .05.
The research findings revealed as follows:
1) The developed exercise program had an index of item-objective congruence (IOC) of 0. 94, which
included: 1.1) frequency of exercise 5 or 7 days per week; 1.2) exercise intensity at moderate to heavy levels; 1.3)
duration of exercise not exceeding 60 minutes per day; 1.4) types of exercises divided into three categories: 1.4.1)
cardio with 8 activities; 1.4.2) muscle stretching with 6 poses; and 1.4.3) resistance training using body weight with
7 poses; 1.5) exercise procedures divided into 5 steps: warm-up, dynamic muscle stretching, main exercise, cooldown,
and static muscle stretching.
2) The results of post-experiment indicated that the experimental group exhibited better health-related
physical fitness in terms of cardiovascular and respiratory endurance, muscular endurance, and flexibility compared
to pre-experiment levels with a statistical significance level of .05.