A Paradigm Model of General Physical Education through the Analysis of College Students Self-directed Exercise Participation and Exercise Effect

This goal of this study is to analyze the effects of body composition and health related physical fitness on 76 college students (43 males, 33 females) who participated in long-term (over 18 months) self-directed exercise for suggesting a model for a general physical education paradigm. As a result, the following conclusions were obtained. First, in the 1st and 2nd t-test of the study subjects’ body composition, both men and women didn’t have any significant results in all factors (weight, BMI, and body fat); in the 2nd and 3rd t-test, both men and women had significant results in body fat(%). Second, in the 1st and 2nd t-test of the study subjects’ health-related physical fitness, both men and women had improvements in muscular strength, muscular endurance, explosive muscular strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular endurance, and men had significant results in muscular strength and cardiovascular endurance. In the 2nd and 3rd t-test, both men and women had improvements in muscular strength, muscular endurance, explosive muscular strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular endurance, and both men and women had significant results in cardiovascular endurance. To sum it up, although both men and women didn’t have any significance in their health-related physical fitness factors except for cardiovascular endurance, their physical strength continued to be improved by the long-term exercise participation. Therefore, for the effect of self-directed exercise, health related physical fitness can be improved when an environment for self-direction is created in college life, which is an extracurricular program of general physical education. Also, it suggests that when the general physical education integrates and applies curriculum and extracurriculum, it can fulfill the functional role as a model of the new general physical education paradigm as well as meeting the educational goal of general physical education through the practice of the self-directed exercise of college students.