semmelweis university - Faculty of Physical Education and Sport ...

Emőke Benkő - Ákos Móra
Semmelweis University, Faculty of P.E. and Sport Sciences (TF), Budapest, Hungary
Supervisor: Dr. Pál Hamar, associate professor
Consultant: István Karsai, research worker
Sport and Eating Habits of Elite Hungarian Gymnasts
Introduction: With regards to healthy lifestyle habits, gymnastics is very contentious.
Contrary to popular belief, many gymnasts fail to live a healthy lifestyle due to the pressure of
size stipulations. In this particular study, it is neccessary to emphasize the low number of
participants. As previous literature has shown, this is a result of a limited number of elite-class
gymnasts in Hungary. (Hamar 1996, Karácsony 1997, Petrou, Bognár 2003, Pápai, Szabó
2004, Kiss, Bognár, Fügedi and Honfi 2006, Benkő, Kiss and Bognár, 2008).
Aim and hypothesis: The purpose of our study is to analyze the sport and eating habits of
Hungarian elite gymnasts. It is hypothesized that these athletes possess an eligible lifestyle,
exceeding that of the average individual. It was also believed that fast food restaurants do not
play an important role in their life. Moreover, we have analyzed the eating habits of first class
athletes, who have also spent a total of three months of the year at the Tata training camp.
Two other important topics that are studied are diet-keeping and vitamin intake. Gaining
weight is a significant factor (relative power), therefore, we assume the vast majority of the
subjects keep a persistent diet in order to enhance performance.
Subjects and methods: The subjects are athletes from various gymnastic clubs of Budapest
and other cities (n=50), including all national teams, as well as the champion program
members. The age of the subjects varied between 11 and 24. Because the Gymnastics
European Championship occurred during our study, this created an unequal men to women
ratio, whereby more woman participated. We chose the questionnaire-method, but only 50
were returned of the 62 distributed. A modified version of the 3 part questionnaires of Ottília
Szabadné Hollanda (1997) and Pál Hamar (2005) were utilized. The first one represents a
personal profile; the second with the family‘s role of the sports and healthy lifestyle; and the
third of the connection between the gymnast and health. All the neccessary information
attached to the questionnaire is presented personally.
Results: We can clearly see from the answers, that the athletes‘ parents have an impact in
sport regarding their child‘s lifestyle choices. Most parents do not expect a great success in
sport. Majority of the families do not attend sport events together. The sleep hours of subjects
vary between 6 and 10 hours daily. The younger the athlete, the less amount of sleep received.
By examining eating habits, no difference between gender and age were found. They eat
frequently in fast food restaurants, not only with friends, but even with their parents. Vitamin
intake only occured with the suggestion of the trainer or parents, but not permanently, and
rather among the older generation. We received positive feedback about the food in Tata,
where subjects prefered to eat warm and multifarious food.
Summary: In conclusion, the eating and sport habits of the subjects are not proper,
irrespectively of the gender or the age group. Therefore, we find it neccessary to send the elite
gymnasts to medical examinations more often than every half a year.
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