Physical Fitness – Mella

Coverage for prelim exam

Introduction of Physical Education:

Physical Education is defined as, "education through the

physical". It aims to develop students' physical
competence and knowledge of movement and safety, and
their ability to use these to perform in a wide range of
activities associated with the development of an active and
healthy lifestyle.

Objectives of P.E.:

• Define and interpret the meaning of physical education

• Help the students acquire knowledge & analyze fitness
as major goal of physical education.
• Develop & maintain a desirable level of physical fitness &
physical competence.
• Accept responsibility for personal fitness leading to an
active healthy lifestyle.

Fitness-is defined as, is not just about having a thin lean

body frame, but it is about having
cardiovascular and muscular endurance, strong immunity
system, and most importantly, a
satisfied, happy and well balanced state of mind.
Health- Health is a state of complete physical, mental &
social well-being & not merely the absence of disease or
infirmity.
Exercise- is an activity requiring physical effort, carried out
to sustain or improve health & fitness.
                "exercise improves your heart and lung power"
Physical Activity-  refers to all movement including
during leisure time, for transport to get to and from
places, or as part of a person's work. Both moderate- and
vigorous-intensity physical activity improve health.
Health-related Fitness - are components focus on factors
that promote optimum health & prevent the on set of
disease & problems associated with an activity. 
 The 5 Components are described as Follows:

1. Cardiovascular fitness- is the ability of the heart

(cardio) & circulatory system (vascular) to supply oxygen
to your muscles for an extended period of time.
Cardiovascular is also called cardiorespiratory (lungs)
fitness. Usually the 1 Km run or some other type of
continuous fitness activity (12-minute run, cycling, step-
test, etc.) is used to assess Cardiovascular Fitness.

2. Muscular strength & Endurance- is the muscle's ability

to produce effort or perform work. 
Muscular strength refers to the maximum amount of force
a muscle can exert against an opposing
force. Fitness testing usually consists of a one-time
maximum lift using weights (bench press, leg
press, etc.).

3. Muscular endurance- refers to the ability of the muscle

to work over an extended
period of time without fatigue. Performing push-ups and
sit-ups or crunches for one minute is
commonly used in fitness testing of muscular endurance

4. Flexibility- is the ability to move a body part through a

full range of motion (ROM) at a joint.
5. Body Composition- is the ratio of body fat to lean
body mass (including water, bones, 
is the ratio of body fat to lean body mass (including water,
bones, muscles, and connective tissues). Having too many
fat tissues is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases,
diabetes, cancer, and arthritis.

In addition to improving quality of life, health-related

fitness also:
• increases muscle tone and strength
• decreases susceptibility to injuries and illness
• improves bone mineral density;
• reduces risk of osteoporosis;
• improves posture;
• increases efficiency of the respiratory and circulatory
systems
• decreases risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke;
• improves blood pressure
• decreases risk of diabetes and some cancers;
• improves self-esteem and self-confidence & decreases
body fat and improves metabolism
- increases energy level and academic achievement.
 Six Components of Skill-Related Fitness

• Agility is the ability to change and control the direction and

position of the body while maintaining a constant, rapid motion.
For example, changing directions to hit a tennis ball.

 • Balance is the ability to control or stabilize the body when a

person is standing still or moving. For example, in-line skating.

 • Coordination is the ability to use the senses together with

body parts during movement. For example, dribbling a basketball.
Using hands and eyes together is called hand-eye coordination.

 • Speed is the ability to move your body or parts of your body

swiftly. Many sports rely on speed to gain advantage over your
opponents. For example, a basketball player making a fast break
to perform a layup, a tennis player moving forward to get to a
drop shot, a football player out running the defense to receive a
pass.

• Power is the ability to move the body parts swiftly while

applying the maximum force of the muscles. Power is a
combination of both speed and muscular strength. For example,
fullbacks in football muscling their way through other players and
speeding to advance the ball and volleyball players getting up to
the net and lifting their bodies high into the air.
• Reaction Time is the ability to reach or respond quickly to what
you hear, see, or feel. For example, an athlete quickly coming off
the blocks early in a swimming or track relay, or stealing a base in
baseball.

Definition of Exercise:
Exercise- is an activity requiring physical effort, carried out
to sustain or improve health & fitness.
               "exercise improves your heart and lung
power"

What are the health benefits of exercise?

 Help you control your weight. ...

 Reduce your risk of heart diseases. ...
 Help your body manage blood sugar and insulin
levels. ...
 Help you quit smoking. ...
 Improve your mental health and mood. ...
 Help keep your thinking, learning, and judgment skills
sharp as you age.

     
 PHASES OF EXERCISE PROGRAM:

1. Warm up- The warm up phase of exercise prepares

your body for the activity of the conditioning part of your
workout. Warming up before exercise allows your body to
adjust gradually to the increased demand on your heart,
muscles, breathing and circulation. 

The warm up phase of exercise prepares your body for the

activity of the conditioning part of your workout. Warming
up before exercise allows your body to adjust gradually to
the increased demand on your heart, muscles, breathing
and circulation. Warm ups also increase your body
temperature slowly, improve flexibility & protect against
injury &  muscle soreness. Warm ups involve light aerobic
activities, such as walking slowly for 5 - 10 minutes or a
moderate version of your conditioning exercise, and
should be based on your physical characteristics and
your conditioning activity. For strength training, warm up
by moving your joints and muscles
2. Training/Workout/Conditioning- During the
conditioning phase, you perform the exercise that
produces fitness benefits, such as calorie burning, building
endurance or muscle strengthening. You may choose an
aerobic exercise, such as swimming or the elliptical jogger,
or you may lift free weights, perform circuit training on
weight machines or play a high intensity sport such as
soccer or basketball.

3. Cool down- The cool down phase ends your exercise session
with recovery time for your body. Cooling down requires you to
keep moving after you end the conditioning. The cool down
movements should allow your heart rate, blood pressure and
body temperature to return slowly to normal. A gradual decrease
in physical activity, such as slow walking, is a good way to cool
down. 
 You can also perform a few stretching movements to cool down
A cool down can last for 3 - 10 minutes and includes stretches or
gentle variations of the movements you did during your
workout. The purpose of cooling down after exercise is to
allow your heart rate and breathing to return to normal, decrease
joint or muscle soreness and promote relaxation.
 Forms of Exercise:

Aerobic Activities
are also called “cardio” exercises. Normally, these
activities increase our heart and
breathing rate. These activities caused us to sweat
profusely, and breathe harder. Our heart pumps
blood more vigorously, causing oxygen to circulate
throughout the body. This allows us to sustain our
aerobic exercise for a few minutes. Such activities like
jogging, running, swimming and dancing are some
 examples of aerobic exercises which improve our
cardiorespiratory fitness. It also help us to prevent disease
like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis.
Most aerobic activities can be done on a daily basis. To be
physically fit, it is important to engage in aerobic activities 

Anaerobic- Anaerobic means without oxygen. Anaerobic

activities last less than two minutes & rely on energy that
is immediately available & not dependent on oxygen, such
as glucose 
present in the blood. Examples of anaerobic exercise are
sprinting and weight-lifting.
IMPORTANCE OF AEROBIC & ANAEROBIC EXERCISES
1. It's important to understand your response to the exercise you
choose.
2. Understand your current health status.
3. Have a lifestyle that will support you new activities
4. Know your goals, and be able to adjust to new challenges.
5. To understand that by exercising you are decreasing your risk
factors for chronic diseases, and that the amount of exercise you
need to do to is significantly less than what you’ll need for
attaining a high physical fitness level.

Exercise Principles:
Whether people take part in activity for enjoyment or
because they’re aiming to achieve a specific goal, exercise
will place stress on our bodies.  Understanding exercise
principles allows trainers to monitor the stress (exercise
load) placed upon their client in order to make the training
safe and effective, helping the client to achieve their goals.

So let’s take a look at the principles, their definitions and

what they actually mean in lay terms.
Individualization
Exercise should be specific to the individual completing
the training. People respond differently to exercise so in
order to maximize the benefits, therefore training
programs should be built around the person’s needs and
capabilities.

Specificity
Exercise should be specific to the client’s goals, needs and
capabilities. Our bodies response to training is based on the
specific stimulus (training) applied.  So, to increase
adaptation (results) exercise should be specific to an
individual’s goals, tasks, movements and capabilities.

Overload
Exercise should overload the body in order for a positive
adaptation to occur. For the body to adapt it needs to be
overloaded.  This means it needs to be placed under
greater stress than it is accustomed to.
This is accomplished by using the F.I.T.T principle to make the
body do more than it has done before.

F = Frequency of training

I = Intensity of training

T = Type of training

T = Time of training (duration)

What is F.I.T.T?
Understanding the F.I.T.T. principle helps you
create a workout plan that will be more
effective in reaching your fitness goals. F.I.T.T.
stands for frequency, intensity, time, and type
of exercise. These are the four elements you
need to think about to create workouts that fit
your goals and fitness level. Learn how the
F.I.T.T. principle works.

Frequency
The first thing to set up with your workout plan is
frequency—how often you will exercise. Your
frequency often depends on a variety of factors
including the type of workout you're doing, how
hard you're working, your fitness level, and your
exercise goals.
In general, the exercise guidelines set out by the
American College of Sports Medicine give you a
place to start when figuring out how often to work
out for both cardio and strength training.

Cardio Workouts
Cardio workouts are usually scheduled more often.
Depending on your goal, guidelines recommend moderate
exercise five or more days a week or intense cardio three
days a week to improve your health.

If you want to lose weight, you'll want to work up to more

frequent workouts, often up to six or more days a week.

Intensity
Intensity has to do with how hard you work during
exercise. How you can change the
intensity depends on the type of workout you're
doing.

Cardio Workouts
There are different ways that you can measure your
workout intensity. For cardio, you will usually monitor
intensity by heart rate, perceived exertion, the talk test,
a heart rate monitor, or a combination of those measures.
The general recommendation is to work at a moderate
intensity for steady-state workouts. Interval training is
done at a high intensity for a shorter period of time. It's a
good idea to have a mixture of low, medium, and high-
intensity cardio exercises so you stimulate different energy
systems and avoid overtraining.

Time
The next element of your workout plan is how long
you exercise during each session. There isn't one
set rule for how long you should exercise, and it
will typically depend on your fitness level and the
type of workout you're doing.

Cardio Workouts
The exercise guidelines that suggest 30 to 60 minutes of
cardio but the duration of your workout depends on what
you're doing.
If you're a beginner, you might start with a workout of 30
minutes. If you're doing steady-state cardio, such as going
for a run or getting on a cardio machine, you might
exercise for 30 to 60 minutes. If you're doing interval
training and working at a very high intensity, your workout
will be shorter, around 20 to 30 minutes.
Having a variety of workouts of different intensities and
durations will give you a solid, balanced cardio program.
Type
The type of exercise you do is the last part of the
F.I.T.T. principle and an easy one to manipulate to
avoid overuse injuries or weight loss plateaus.

Cardio Workouts
Cardio is easy to change, since any activity that gets your
heart rate up counts. Running, walking, cycling,
dancing, and the elliptical trainer are some of the wide
variety of activities you can choose.
Having more than one go-to cardio activity is the best way
to reduce boredom, and your body needs variability along
with progressive overload.

How to Use F.I.T.T.

The F.I.T.T. principle outlines how to manipulate your
program to get in shape and get better results. It also
helps you figure out how to change your workouts to
avoid boredom, overuse injuries, and weight loss plateaus.
For example, walking three times a week for 30 minutes at
a moderate pace might be a great place for a beginner to
start. After a few weeks, however, your body adapts to
these workouts and several things may happen:
 You burn fewer calories: The more you workout, the
easier it is to do the exercises because your body
becomes more efficient.
 Weight loss stalls: Your new workouts may lead to
weight loss, but when you weigh less, you
expend fewer calories moving your now-smaller body.
 Boredom sets in: Doing the same workout for weeks
or months on end can get old, eating into
your motivation to exercise.
 Frequency
The first thing to set up with your workout plan is
frequency—how often you will exercise. Your frequency
often depends on a variety of factors including the type of
workout you're doing, how hard you're working, your
fitness level, and your exercise goals.

In general, the exercise guidelines set out by the American

College of Sports Medicine give you a place to start when
figuring out how often to work out for both cardio and
strength training.