THE COMPONENTS
OF PHYSICAL FITNESS
WHAT IS FITNESS?
• Physical Fitness: the body’s ability to function efficiently and effectively.
• Fitness consists of 2 components:
• Health Related Fitness
• Skill Related Fitness
HEALTH RELATED FITNESS COMPONENTS
• 1. Body Composition:
The proportion of fat and fat free mass (muscle, bone, water) in the body.
• 2. Aerobic Endurance:
The ability of the body to perform prolonged, large muscle, dynamic
exercises at moderate to high levels of intensity.
• 3. Flexibility:
The ability to move joints through their full range of motion.
• 4. Muscular Strength:
The amount of force a muscle can produce with a single maximum effort.
• 5. Muscular Endurance: The ability of a muscle or group of muscles to remain contracted or to
contract repeatedly.
SKILL RELATED FITNESS COMPONENTS
• Speed
• Agility
• Balance
• Coordination
• Reaction Time
• Power
Which components of fitness do you want to
improve/change this semester?
WHY BOTHER?
• If you are active and fit, you decrease your risk of:
• Dying of heart failure
• Adult onset diabetes
• Osteoporosis
• Obesity
• High blood pressure, stroke, heart attack
• Look good & feel good
THE PRINCIPLES OF PHYSICAL FITNESS TRAINING
1. ADAPTATION TO STRESS
• The human body is very adaptable.
• The greater the demands made on it, the more it
adjusts to meet those demands.
• Particular types and amounts of exercise are most
effective at making the body fit.
2. OVERLOAD PRINCIPLE
• - to build muscle you need to use more resistance
than your muscles are used to .
• - the more you do the more your body is capable
of doing, so you should Increase your workload to
avoid plateaus.
• - lift enough weight that you can ONLY complete
the desired # of reps. The last reps should be
difficult but still maintain proper form.
OVERLOAD PRINCIPLE CAN BE ACHIEVED THROUGH
CHANGES IN:
• FREQUENCY:
how often you exercise (3-5x/week)
• INTENSITY:
how hard you train
• TIME:
How long (duration)
• TYPE:
Mode of activity
3. PROGRESSION
• Progression is critical because fitness increases
only if the volume and intensity of workouts
increase
• Exercising at the same intensity every training
session will maintain fitness but not increase it as
it is not stressing your body enough to adapt.
• To avoid plateaus, you need to increase your
intensity regularly.
PROGRESSION CAN BE ACHIEVED BY:
• increasing the amount of weight lifted
• changing sets/reps
• changing the exercise
• changing the type of resistance
• training loads must be increased
gradually to allow the body to adapt and
to avoid injury.
4. SPECIFICITY
• Train for your goal
• - Develop a particular fitness component by performing
exercises specifically designed for that.
• - Eg. To build muscle/gain weight – train with heavy weights
closer to 1RM
• - Eg. To lose weight/body fat – include cardio (interval/circuit
training), train with lighter weights/more reps. Keep in mind
you CANNOT spot train.
5. REST & RECOVERY
• - Rest days are just as important as
training days.
• - It’s during rest periods that your
muscles grow and change.
• - Do not work out the same muscle
group 2 days in a row.
6. REVERSIBILITY
• Fitness improvements are lost when
demands on the body are lowered.
• Disuse leads to decreasing strength and
muscle mass (atrophy)
• If you stop exercising, up to 50% of fitness
gains are lost within 2 months.
7. INDIVIDUAL RESPONSE
• Each person will respond differently to the same training stimulus.
• Factors can alter the training response:
• - genetics
- sleep
• - maturity
- illness
• - nutrition
- injury
• - prior training
- motivation
• - environment