SURVEY ON PHYSICAL EXERCISE HABITS IN THE CITY OF BUCARAMANGA

Abstract

There are many validated questionnaires in the world to measure the physical fitness of people such as the IPAQ, GPAQ, FITNESSGRAM, PACE or the YPAS. However, it is necessary to construct questionnaires that, in addition to characterizing the physical activity of populations in terms of exercise dosage, also inquire about the physical capacities worked, the place of exercise, and the appearance of injuries, the direction and progression of exercise and its prevalence over time. In this study, the physical exercise characterization instrument (ICEF) is applied to the population of Bucaramanga. In 1923 persons of all ages, sexes, housing strata, levels of education, occupations and marital status, the results of the ICEF show the following trends in the city of Bucaramanga: The population that does not exercise affirms in 41% that it is for work reasons, in 27% for demotivation and in 20% for household occupations. Although 73% of the population does physical exercise, about half of these people do it less often than three days a week. 65% of the population has no knowledge of the volume, intensity, rest and adequate frequency of weekly physical exercise, because they report exercising with outdated physical loads. Only 30% of people who exercise are directed by a reliable source of knowledge. The population has no prevalence of physical exercise over time; because half of the people claim to have exercised all their lives, however, 60% drop out continuously, this being a contradiction.