Paper 1 Topic 3 Physical training

Fitness, health, exercise and performance

Fitness: the ability to meet the demands of the enviroment.

Health: a state of emotional,social and physcial wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.

Exercise: a form of physical activity done to maintain or improve health and / or physical fitness; it is not a competitve sport.

Performance: how well a task is completed

The effects of fitness on health

Regular exercise and a good level of fitness can provide increased health benifits, which could be physical, emotional or social. A healthy lifestyle and balanced diet will also provide increased health benefits.

Just as your fitness and performance will improve with regular exercise, if you are not healthy enough to exercise regularly, your fitness and performance will deteriorate and health benifits will not be gained.

Cardiovascular fitness

Different components of fitness are more relevant to some performers than others.

Cardiovascular fitness is defined as "the ability to exercise the entire body for lond periods of time without tiring". It can also be known as "aerobic endurance".

Cardiovascular fitness is requiered when activities:

- are mainly aerobic

- last a long time

- involved prolonged additional oxygen delivery.

It is used by performers who need to:

- maintain quality of performance over a long time, e.g games players

- work the body for a long period of time without tiring, e.g long distance runners.

Muscualr endurance and flexibility

Muscular endurance

This is defined as "the ability to use voluntary muscles many times without getting tired". It is required when activities:

- are mainly aerobic

- last a long time

- require repeated use of the same musces.

It is used by performers who need:

- prolonged additional oxygen delivery to working muscles

- to repeat muscle contractions over a long period of time without tiring.

Flexibility

This is defined as "the range of movement possible at a joint". It is important in all activities because it:

- increases the range of movement, allowing…