Effects of a 6-week circuit training intervention on body esteem and body mass index in British primary school children

Research examining the impact of physical activity on children’s body image has been limited and equivocal. The current researchers examined the effect of 6-week circuit-based training on body esteem and body mass index (BMI) in 68 British children (34 boys and 34 girls, aged 10–11 years, 16% overweight, 7% obese). TheBody EsteemScale for Children (BES-C)wasadministered to both the intervention groupand control group, pre, post and 6 weeks post the intervention. BMI was directly assessed fromheight and body mass pre- and post-intervention. The results of this study revealed that, as compared to the control group, participation in 6-week circuit training significantly improved body esteem scores post-intervention. However, these scores were not sustained 6 weeks post-intervention. The improvement in body esteem scores frompre- to post-interventionwasgreater for girls as compared to boys.Additionally,BMIdecreased significantly in the intervention group compared to the control group