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This study examined the PA knowledge, personal PA behaviours, attitudes toward PA promotion, and PA training needs of medical students at a major South African medical school across year of medical training.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A paper-based questionnaire was administered in-person to medical students across all four years of the Graduate Entry Medical Programme (GEMP) between April and September 2021. The questionnaire assessed students\u2019 personal PA behaviours, PA knowledge, attitudes toward PA promotion, and perceived PA training needs.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A total of 536 medical students participated with response rates highest among first-year students and lower in later-year cohorts following COVID-19 related disruptions. Medical student PA levels were low overall (34.8% met WHO PA recommendations) and generally declined with increasing year in medical school (GEMP 1 to 3). Nearly all students recognised the importance of PA in disease prevention (98.1%) and future patient care (95.0%); however, objective PA knowledge was low - only 9.1% and 5.2% of all medical students correctly reported WHO PA recommendations and demonstrated knowledge of core exercise prescription principles, respectively. Most students (82.3%) also desired greater PA training with the medical school curriculum.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This study adds to the limited literature from LMIC settings demonstrating that medical students are interested in receiving PA training, recognise its importance in future clinical practice, but feel insufficiently prepared to counsel future patients.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s12909-026-09933-x","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,15]],"date-time":"2026-07-15T14:28:30Z","timestamp":1784125710000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Physical activity behaviours, knowledge, attitudes, and training needs among medical students in South Africa: a cross-sectional study"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"26","author":[{"given":"Mark","family":"Stoutenberg","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Innocent","family":"Maposa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Georgia","family":"Torres","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"9933_CR1","unstructured":"World Health Organization. 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Ethical approval was provided by the Human Research Ethics Committee (Medical) at the University of Witwatersrand [Ref. M191043] for all study materials and procedures. All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration.","order":1,"name":"Ethics","label":"Ethics approval and consent to participate","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}},{"value":"Not applicable.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","label":"Consent for publication","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}},{"value":"The authors declare no competing interests.","order":3,"name":"Ethics","label":"Competing interests","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}}],"article-number":"1523"}}