OBJECTIVES

At the end of this topic you should know the following:-

1] The Components of Fitness.

DEFINITION:-

Physical Fitness means different things to different people. The basic level of fitness is the ability to carry out everyday activities with ease and comfort. The Top level of fitness is that reached by professional athletes or Olympians - A fitness which gives maximum body performance. Most of us want to achieve a fitness level that allows us to achieve our own peak performance in sport or recreation.

Although every sport has one particular component of fitness which is more important than another, to achieve all-round fitness the following components are essential.

i. Endurance - both cardiovascular and muscular      ii. Strength

iii. Flexibility                                     iv. Power

v. Speed                                             vi. Agility

vii. Balance                                         viii. Reaction Time

ix. Co-ordination

To improve your fitness - you should:-

1] Assess your fitness level at each component of fitness through standard tests.

Read page 68 'Fundamentals of Health and PE'

pages 42 - 43 'Sport Examined'

Write a few sentences on:-

i. Specificity      ii. Progression

iii. Overload       iv. Reversibility

We use heartbeat as a measure of cardiovascular endurance. You measure what happens to your heartbeat during exercise and how quickly it drops back to normal. Heartbeat is affected by your fitness, age, sex and activity. The lower your heartbeat and the quicker your recovery the fitter you are.

Read pages 68 -69 'Fundamentals of Health and PE' and explain how to measure C.V. fitness by:-

a] Cooper 12 minute run test

b] Korsch-Boyer Step test

The best way to improve Cardio-Vascular fitness is to work on two types of exercise:-

a] Aerobic exercises - with Oxygen

b] Anaerobic exercises - Without Oxygen

Read pages 70 'Fundamentals of Health and PE'

           46 'Sport Examined'

Write a few sentences about these two types of exercise and example of work within them.

Copy Diagram 4.3. 'Fundamentals of Health and PE' page 70. Then copy the following.

The above diagram indicates the desired heart rate (intensity) for exercising. To improve your performance you should exercise for 15 mins (duration) at this intensity at least 3 times a week (frequency).

To assess muscular endurance you must see how many repetitions of an exercise you can do comfortably. This will be your base level. To improve your level, work on increasing the number of repetitions.

Read pages 73 - 74 'Fundamentals of Health and PE'

Draw diagrams to show 6 possible exercises for improving M.E. Label the muscles being exercised.

It is difficult to measure strength precisely without the use of machines. Muscular Strength increases when you overload the muscle with increased resistances in a training programme. There are two ways to improve strength.

i. ISOTONICS - Exercises with movement

ii. ISOMETRICS - Exercises without movement

ISOTONICS - Weight training is the most popular form of strength training.

A weight training programme should overload the major muscle groups in the legs, chest, shoulders, arms, abdomen and back. You should begin with weights that are easy to lift and gradually, over a number of sessions increase the weight so that the muscles are overloaded. It is a good idea to alternate exercises so that different muscles are overloaded.

Read pages 75 - 76 'Fundamentals of Health and PE'

Using diagrams to illustrate, give a sample of weight training exercises to improve general strength.

If muscles are tight and joints inflexible, your speed, agility, balance and range of movements could be decreased. You are also more prone to muscular soreness and injury.

Read pages 77 - 79 'Fundamentals of Health and PE'

With the aid of diagrams, describe 3 common tests of flexibility.

When you start a stretching programme to improve flexibility remember the following:-

a] Avoid bouncy, jerky movements as they can cause tearing of muscles, ligaments and tendons.

b] Do stretching exercises for the specific muscle used for the sport you play.

c] Flexibility exercises should be done at least 3 times a week.

Read pages 80 - 83 'Fundamentals of Health and PE'

           44 - 45 'Sport Examined'

Describe in a few lines the 3 ways that flexibility can be improved by:-

i. Static stretching

ii. Active stretching

iii. Passive stretching.

With the aid of diagrams show and name 9 stretching exercises.

Read pages 84 - 87 'Fundamentals of Health and PE'

With the aid of diagrams (where necessary) show tests that can be used to assess your ability in the following:-

a] Power       b] Balance         c] Agility

d] Speed       e] Reaction Time   f] Co-ordination

Say what needs to be done to improve/increase these skills.

Using the table on page 87 of 'Fundamentals of Health and PE'

Name 4 physical activities which will develop good/excellent fitness for the following components.

a] Cardio-Vascular Endurance       b] Muscular Endurance

c] Strength                        d] Flexibility

e] Power                           f] Speed

g] Agility                         h] Balance

i] Reaction Time                   j] Co-ordination

All training sessions should be directed into 3 parts:-

i] Warm-up

ii] Training Activities

iii] Cool-Down

THE WARM-UP should be done in 2 stages:-

i] The Stretching Stage

ii] Muscle Warm Up

Read page 88 'Fundamentals of Health and PE'

Write a few sentences about these two stages.

THE TRAINING ACTIVITIES should be worked through the principles of:-

i] Specificity

ii] Progression

iii] Overload

iv] Reversibility

THE COOL DOWN should finish all sessions.

At the end of a hard, strenuous training session a large amount of blood remains in the muscles. If this is not returned quickly to the circulation, pooling of blood may occur in the muscles, a shortage of blood to the brain can result and you could faint or collapse. The best way to cool down is to continue activity at a much slower pace e.g. keep jogging/walking until heart rate returns to steady rate.