In accordance with the competence approach, the becoming of a future specialist involves the development of not only intellectual but also physical component of personality, resulting in the need to update the methodology of physical education of students and encourage physical selfimprovement in particular. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the need to develop students' motivation in the process of physical education, as exemplified by pedagogical activities of teachers of the University of Customs and Finance. The study was conducted in three stages using scientific-theoretical and empirical methods of cognition, including analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalisation, and survey. It was found that the practices of physical education of students are developed according to the individual motivating factor. The main interpretations of the category “motivation” in the context of historical retrospect are defined, as a result of which attention was focused on the perception of motivation as an incentive to meet personal needs. An empirical study was conducted in the form of a survey of first and second year students in order to characterise the initial level of motivation for physical education classes. The study has identified such key motivational factors for physical education of students as health, aesthetic, professional-oriented, administrative-obligatory and status. A list of basic methods of stimulating students to engage in physical culture in view of Ukrainian practices (modular and “score” systems, use of media, combination of physical development of both team and individual components, etc.) and foreign practices (use of digital technologies, perception of teacher's authority as method of motivation, the development of a positive psychological climate and giving autonomy to students). Prospects for further research are considered in the re-conduct of empirical research to confirm the effectiveness of the application of updated methods of motivating students to engage in physical education

Training of the future specialist is a multifaceted educational process, which includes various types of training (theoretical, psychophysiological, physical, etc.). Focusing the results of pedagogical influence on all types of training and determining professional readiness. The urgency and expediency of the study of this problem is enhanced by the need to overcome existing contradictions in higher education, in particular between: severe deterioration in the health of student youth, steady growth in the number of students with impaired health therefore referred to a special medical group (SMG), and social order for a healthy, physically developed, and active generation. The purpose of the study lies in theoretical and methodological substantiation and experimental confirmation of the effectiveness of the use of new tools, technologies, forms, and methods of organising physical education of students. The method of observation and the method of statistical data processing were used to conduct the empirical part of the study, and the methods of system, correlation, and comparative analysis were used to substantiate the theoretical part. Consideration of modern approaches, presented in the content of pedagogical technologies, author's methods and programmes in physical education of students revealed that technologies with a wide arsenal of tools can serve as a factor that improves the physical health of students. The study found that the improper functioning of the physical education system is conditioned by the lack of methods and mechanisms for implementing the existing legal framework for physical education of young people in practice. In addition, the study substantiated the emergence of the issue regarding the use of health technologies due to the lack of a specific interpretation of the terminology