HEALTH AND PHYSIICAL EDUCATION

 Benefits of Physical Activity

Regular physical activity is one of the most important things you can do for your health. Being
physically active can improve your brain health, help manage weight, reduce the risk of disease,
strengthen bones and muscles, and improve your ability to do everyday activities.

Adults who sit less and do any amount of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity gain some
health benefits. Only a few lifestyle choices have as large an impact on your health as physical
activity. Everyone can experience the health benefits of physical activity – age, abilities,
ethnicity, shape, or size do not matter.

 Immediate Benefits

Some benefits of physical activity on brain health happen right after a session of moderate-to-
vigorous physical activity. Benefits include improved thinking or cognition for children 6 to 13
years of age and reduced short-term feelings of anxiety for adults. Regular physical activity can
help keep your thinking, learning, and judgment skills sharp as you age. It can also reduce your
risk of depression and anxiety and help you sleep better.

 Weight Management

Both eating patterns and physical activity routines play a critical role in weight management.
You gain weight when you consume more calories through eating and drinking than the amount
of calories you burn, including those burned during physical activity.

To maintain your weight: Work your way up to 150 minutes a week of moderate physical
activity, which could include dancing or yard work. You could achieve the goal of 150 minutes a
week with 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week.

People vary greatly in how much physical activity they need for weight management. You may
need to be more active than others to reach or maintain a healthy weight.

To lose weight and keep it off: You will need a high amount of physical activity unless you also
adjust your eating patterns and reduce the amount of calories you’re eating and drinking.

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Getting to and staying at a healthy weight requires both regular physical activity and healthy
eating.

 Reduce Your Health Risk

risk of developing type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is some
combination of too much fat around the waist, high blood pressure, low high-density
lipoproteins (HDL) cholesterol, high triglycerides, or high blood sugar. People start to see
benefits at levels from physical activity even without meeting the recommendations for 150
minutes a week of moderate physical activity. Additional amounts of physical activity seem to
lower risk even more.

 Some Cancers

Being physically active lowers your risk for developing several common cancers. Adults who
participate in greater amounts of physical activity have reduced risks of developing cancers of
the:

 Bladder
 Breast
 Colon (proximal and distal)
 Endometrium
 Esophagus (adenocarcinoma)
 Kidney
 Lung
 Stomach (cardia and non-cardia adenocarcinoma)

If you are a cancer survivor, getting regular physical activity not only helps give you a better
quality of life, but also improves your physical fitness.

 Strengthen Your Bones and Muscles

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As you age, it’s important to protect your bones, joints, and muscles – they support your body
and help you move. Keeping bones, joints, and muscles healthy can help ensure that you’re
able to do your daily activities and be physically active.

Muscle-strengthening activities like lifting weights can help you increase or maintain your
muscle mass and strength. This is important for older adults who experience reduced muscle
mass and muscle strength with aging. Slowly increasing the amount of weight and number of
repetitions you do as part of muscle strengthening activities will give you even more benefits,
no matter your age.

CHAPTER TWO

2.1 CONCEPTS OF PHYSICAL FITNESS

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WHAT IS PHYSICAL FITNESS?

In simple terms, “physical fitness”refers to the ability of the body to adapt to external
environment and cope with daily activities. Good physical fitness not only enables a person to
carry out daily works, but also gives him / her extra energy to enjoy leisure, ensuring the body
can adapt to unexpected environmental changes and daily pressures.

2.2 Kinds of physical fitness

There are two kinds of physical fitness, namely Health-related Physical Fitness and Sports-
related Physical Fitness.

1. Health-related Physical Fitness

Purpose: Healthy body, quality life.

Elements:

 Cardiorespiratory endurance
 Muscular strength and endurance
 Flexibility
 Body Composition
 Neuromuscular relaxation

2. Sports (skill)-related Physical Fitness

Purpose: Winning trophies and honors in competition.

Elements:

 Agility
 Balance
 Speed
 Power

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 Coordination

2.2.1 Cardiovascular endurance

Cardiorespiratory endurance is when the heart and lungs are able to deliver oxygen to
working muscles during extended physical exercise. The body's ability to receive oxygen is an
important indicator of advanced physical health. Cardiorespiratory endurance is not easy to
measure directly in a field setting. The measure of cardiorespiratory endurance is calculated
in a lab setting and compares the resting heart rate to the heart rate during activity to
estimate the amount of oxygen the person intakes.

2.2.2Muscular strength

There are a number of ways to measure muscular strength. Generally, lifting a set weight in a
prescribed position and comparing the results against any given population is the best way.

In general, if a person works their muscles consistently and regularly, they will increase in
strength. There are various ways of putting the muscles through rigorous activity, but anything
that works a muscle until it is tired will increase muscle strength over time.

How does muscle structure change with exercise?

Muscles consist of elongated muscle cells. Each muscle cell containsTrusted Source contractile
proteins, called actin and myosin, that give the muscle its strength.

These fibers contract together, producing the so-called power stroke. The total force depends
on the number of these units contracting in unison. To build muscle, an individual must
regularly exercise their muscles and take in enough protein.

Scientists do not fully understand the exact mechanism of muscle building, but the general
principles are well known. Training causes the muscle cellsTrusted Source to expand, and there
is an increase in actin and myosin production.

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Also, in untrained muscles, fibers tend to fire in an asynchronous manner. In other words, they
do not fire in unison. As a person trains them, however, they learn to fire together as one,
thereby increasing maximum power output.

2.2.3 Muscular endurance

Fitness can also include muscular endurance, which is the ability of a muscle to continue
exerting force without tiring.

As mentioned above, strength training builds bigger muscles. Endurance training, on the other
hand, does not necessarily generate muscles of a larger size.

This is because the body focuses more on the cardiovascular system, ensuring that the muscles
receive the oxygenated blood they need to keep functioning.

Another important change in muscles that people specifically train for endurance concerns the
different types of muscle tissue: fast twitch and slow twitchTrusted Source fibers.

Fast twitch fibers contract quickly but get tired quickly. They use a lot of energy and are useful
for sprints. They are whitish, as they do not require blood to function.

Slow twitch fibers are best for endurance work, as they can carry out tasks without getting
tired. They are present in core muscles. These fibers appear red, as they rely on a good supply
of oxygenated blood and contain stores of myoglobin.

Different exercises will promote fast twitch fibers, slow twitch fibers, or both. For example, a
sprinter will have comparatively more fast twitch fibers, whereas a long distance runner will
have more slow twitch fibers.

2.2.4 Body composition

Body composition measures the relative amounts of muscle, bone, water, and fat an individual
has.

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A person can potentially maintain the same weight but radically change the ratio of each of the
components that make up their body.

For instance, people with a high muscle (lean mass) ratio might weigh more than those with the
same height and waist circumference who have less muscle.

How is body composition calculated?

There are several methodsTrusted Source for calculating body composition. For example, a
doctor can measure a person’s body fat using tools such as calipers or through bioelectrical
impedance analysis to detect fat cells.

The above methods are prone to inaccuracies, however.

2.2.5 Flexibilit

Flexibility refers to the range of movement across a joint.

Flexibility is important because it improves the ability to link movements together smoothly and
can help prevent injuries. It is specific to each joint and depends on a number of variables,
including the tightness of ligaments and tendons.

Various activities that stretch the joints, ligaments, and tendons can increase flexibility.

There are three common types of stretches that people use to increase flexibilityTrusted
Source:

 Dynamic stretching: This refers to the ability to complete a full range of motion in a
particular joint. People use this type of stretch in standard warmup exercises, as it helps
prepare the body for physical activity.
 Static-active stretching: This refers to holding the body or part of the body in a
stretched position and maintaining that position for a period of time. One example of
static-active stretching is the splits.
 Ballistic stretching: People should only engage in ballistic stretching when the body is
already warmed up and limber from exercise. It involves stretching to improve

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flexibility. Having a daily stretching regimen can be the simplest and most efficient way
of achieving whole body flexibility.