Abstract:

This study aimed to examine changes in physical activity levels of sport sciences students during COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey. A total of 264 subjects completed the online survey, but only 225 (164 females, 61 males) subjects resulted eligible for the study. The questionnaire measured the total weekly physical activity energy expenditure before and during quarantine (i.e. the sum of walking, moderate-intensity physical activities, and vigorous-intensity physical activities) in Metabolic Equivalent Task minutes per week (MET–min/wk) using an adapted version of International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-S). When the averages of weekly physical activity durations and frequencies in terms of MET were compared according to the physical activity levels of the students, it was seen that there was significant decrease in both walking, moderate intensity, high intensity and total physical activity participation during the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period (*p<.001).This study showed that sport sciences students’ physical inactivity rates increased relatively during the COVID-19 pandemic process.