Anthropometric and Physical Fitness Differences Between Polish and Romanian Physical Education Students: A Sex-Specific Perspective

Introduction. The study aimed to compare anthropometric characteristics and selected components of physical fitness between physical education students from one university in Poland and one university in Romania, while also considering sex-related differences. Material and methods. The study involved 515 undergraduate students of physical education: 258 students from Poland (180 males, 78 females) and 257 students from Romania (170 males, 87 females). Body height, body mass, and body mass index (BMI) were measured. Selected components of physical fitness were assessed using three tests from the Eurofit battery: the Plate Tapping Test, the Sit-up Test, and the Standing Long Jump Test. Statistical analyses examined the effects of group and sex on anthropometric and physical performance outcomes. Results. Anthropometric differences between the examined Polish and Romanian university cohorts were generally small, although students from the Polish university demonstrated slightly higher body height, body mass, and BMI values. In contrast, clear differences were observed in selected components of physical fitness, depending on the type of test performed. Students from the Polish university achieved better results in muscular endurance and explosive power tests, whereas students from the Romanian university performed faster in upper-limb movement speed tasks. Significant sex effects were observed across all anthropometric and physical performance variables. Conclusions. The findings highlight the importance of considering biological sex and programme-specific context in the design and evaluation of physical education curricula. They also emphasize the need for multicenter longitudinal research incorporating detailed measurements of body composition, activity levels, and training load to better understand the mechanisms underlying differences in selected physical fitness components among physical education students.