Benefici dell’Allenamento Sportivo Inclusivo sulla Fitness e sulla Salute di Atleti con e senza Disabilità Intellettiva

This study aimed to assess the variation of fitness level in athletes with ID before and after an 8-month Inclusive (IS) and Not Inclusive Sport (NIS) training. Thirty-eight athletes with ID and 14 athletes without ID belonged to IS group, 38 athletes with ID to the NIS group and 23 participants with ID to the Control group (not attending to any sport). Before and after the intervention period, all participants performed fitness tests assessing body composition, flexibility (SR), explosive leg power (SLJ), balance ability (FT), lower and upper-body muscular strength and endurance (SUP and PUP), arm muscular strength (HG), cardiovascular endurance (ST), motor coordination (TUGT), lower-body speed (10x5 SR), and upper-body speed (PT). Results showed that all athletes with ID significantly improved their body composition, ST, FT and PUP after the training period, and athletes of the NIS training (with and without ID) obtained significantly better scores in all fitness tests after the intervention (p < 0.05), showing how inclusive training may bring more effective results on all athletes.