Investigation of 8-week Life Kinetik training effects on reaction time and agility in 6-10 year old girls

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of an 8-week LK training program, applied in addition to standard sports training, on the reaction time and agility performance of 6-10 year old girls. The study was conducted using a pre-test post-test control group experimental design. Twenty-four girls aged 6-10, participating in gymnastics and handball, were randomly assigned to an experimental group (n=12) and a control group (n=12). For 8 weeks, the experimental group participated in LK training 3 days a week in addition to their standard training, while the control group continued only with their standard training. Participants' reaction time was measured using the Ruler Drop test, and agility performance was measured using the T-test, both at pre-test and post-test. Data were analyzed using SPSS with appropriate statistical tests (t-Test, Mann-Whitney U, Wilcoxon) for between-group and within-group comparisons (p<0.05). Initially, there were no significant differences between the groups in terms of reaction time or agility. After the 8-week intervention, the experimental group showed a statistically significant improvement (decrease) in reaction time (p=0.005), while the control group showed no significant change (p=0.786). In the post-test comparison, the experimental group's reaction time was significantly better than the control group's (p=0.011). Regarding agility performance, both the experimental (p=0.001) and control groups (p=0.002) showed significant improvements. However, there was no significant difference between the two groups in agility performance at the post-test (p=0.958). In conclusion, the 8-week Life Kinetik training provided an additional benefit over standard training in improving reaction time in 6-10 year old girls. This supports the potential of LK to enhance neural processing speed through cognitive-motor integration. However, no additional effect of LK was observed on agility performance as measured by the T-test; both groups improved similarly. This suggests that standard gymnastics and handball training may already sufficiently stimulate the physical components of agility in this age group, or that a longer duration might be needed to observe LK's effects on agility. The findings highlight the importance of selecting specific training methodologies (cognitive- focused or physical-focused) based on the targeted skill in children's training programs. Keywords: life kinetik, middle childhood, reaction time, agility