Ch. 3 Physical Activity and Fitness
Lesson 1: Becoming Physically Fit
Physical Activity and Your Health
A. Physical Activity: any activity that makes your body use extra energy.
**Write 5 examples of NON SPORTS RELATED activities. 
1. Can prevent health problems. **Give 3 examples 
B. Fitness: being able to handle physical work and play each day without getting overly tired.
C. Exercise: planned physical activity done regularly to build or maintain one’s fitness.
1. You can handle more activity in your day & not feel tired. (even simple things in life)
2. Regular exercise helps develop skills to play sports.
Benefits of Physical Activity
A. There are MANY benefits to incorporating physical activity into your life.
1. Helps build & maintain your bones & muscles.
2. Manages your weight.
3. Increases your strength & flexibility.
4. Keeps your blood pressure at healthy levels
5. Makes sure your heart & lungs work better.
6. You have more energy!
7. You move more freely & are more athletic.
8. You sleep better.
9. You are in less danger of developing certain diseases now & throughout life. (what are they)
10. It FEELS good to work out! You usually feel more relaxed/upbeat after exercising/sport.
11. It improves the way you THINK and FEEL.
12. You have more self-confidence.
13. You are more mentally alert because more oxygen is going to your brain.
14. It can help cut down on stress.
15. Being involved in physical activity can give your social health a boost. Meet more people!
Elements of Physical Fitness
There are 5 Elements to know
A. Endurance: the ability to perform difficult physical activity without getting overly tired.
1. Muscle Endurance: the ability of a muscle to repeatedly use force over a period of time.
Examples: Running several miles without your legs being tired.
2. Cardiovascular Endurance: the measure of how well your heart and lungs work during
moderate-to-vigorous physical activity or exercise.
**Also a measure of how quickly your heartbeat & breathing return to normal after exercise
Examples: Breathing so hard you can’t talk in sentences – activity is vigorous.
B. Strength: the ability of your muscles to use force.
1. The amount of work your muscles can do is a measure of strength.
2. Lifting weights is a way to build and maintain muscle strength.
C. Flexibility: The ability to move joints fully and easily through a full range of motion.
1. Increases with regular gentle stretches. You will become more agile & able to change
direction easily. This also helps with everyday life. **Give 3 examples 
D. Body Composition: the proportions of fat, bone, muscle, and fluid that make up body weight.
1. A healthy body has more bone, muscle, & fluid than fat.
2. Body composition is a result of =
a. eating habits
b. level of physical activity
c. genetics – the genes you inherited from your parents
Effect of Body Composition on Fitness
1. Can improve body composition by eating healthy foods & increasing physical activity.
2. Exercise regularly = body can gain muscle and lose fat.
a. helps you maintain healthy weight range
b. protects you against diseases like heart disease and cancer.
3. Eating healthy foods & exercising helps keep cholesterol levels down.
a. Cholesterol: a fatty substance in the blood that the body uses to build cells.
b. High Cholesterol levels can contribute to heart disease.
Types of Exercise
A. Aerobic Exercise: rhythmic, moderate-to-vigorous activity that uses large amounts of
OXYGEN and works the heart and lungs.
1. Example: Dancing, Running, Swimming laps, Bicycling
B. Anaerobic Exercise: intense physical activity that builds muscle but does NOT use large
amounts of oxygen.
1. Lifting weights & sprinting
Measuring Your Fitness
A. Flexibility = Sit and Reach Pg. 64 for examples
B. Strength
1. Abdominal Strength = Sit ups for 1 minute
2. Upper-body Strength = Pull ups (as many as you can) OR Push-ups in one minute
C. Cardiovascular Endurance = 12 inch step up test (3 minutes) OR Mile Run Test
D. Body Composition = Skinfold test – pinching a fold of skin on the back of your upper arm &
on the inside of your lower leg. ALWAYS do this test on the same side of the body.
Lesson 2: Exploring Skeletal and Muscular Systems
The Skeletal System
A. Skeletal System: the framework of bones and other tissues that supports the body.
1. Protects your internal organs & helps you move.
2. 206 Bones total.
3. Bones make blood cells & store calcium & other minerals.
B. Joints: the places where two or more bones meet.
1. Some joints allow the bones to move. (Pivot, Gliding, Ball-and-Socket, & Hinge)
2. Some joints do not move. (The ones in the skull.)
C. Tendons: type of connecting tissue that joins muscles to bones and muscles to muscles.
1. Achilles tendon = attaches calf muscle to heel bone.
D. Ligaments: type of connecting tissue that holds bones to other bones at the joint.
1. Ligaments make it possible for knees & ankles to work.
E. Cartilage: strong, flexible tissue that allows joints to move easily, cushions bones, and
supports soft tissues.
1. Examples: Tip of your nose & ears. It also pads the knee joint.
The Muscular System
A. Muscular system: tissues that move parts of the body and control the organs.
1. Human body = more than 600 muscles
2. Provides power & flexibility you need to move.
3. Three main types of muscles = skeletal, smooth, & cardiac.
B. Skeletal muscles : are voluntary muscles = YOU control them & they work in pairs.
1. As one muscle contracts, the other muscle lengthens. (Pg. 69)
C. Smooth muscles: are involuntary muscles = they move without consciously being told to.
1. Organs and blood vessels contain smooth muscles.
D. Cardiac muscle: the heart is its own special type of involuntary muscle.
Caring for your Bones and Muscles
A. Stay physically active.
1. Flexibility exercises, physical activities that strengthen muscles & bones, & build
cardiovascular endurance. (heart & lungs will have more power)
B. Stand up straight!!
1. Proper posture keeps bones, joints, & muscles in the right places.
2. Be relaxed  not stiff posture
C. Lifting = back straight, bend your knees, & let your legs do most of the work.
D. You are what you eat!!
1. Carbohydrates = fuel for energy
2. Protein = can help build muscle
3. Vitamin D, Calcium, & other minerals = help bones grow & become stronger
Lesson 3: Exploring the Circulatory System
Your Heart and Blood Vessels
A. Circulatory System: the group of organs and tissues that act as transfer stations carrying
needed materials to cells and removing their waste products.
1. Includes: heart, blood vessels, & blood.
2. Called Cardiovascular System
a. Cardio = heart
b. Vascular = blood vessels
3. Heart serves as the center of the circulatory system.
a. Pumps blood around body through a network of blood vessels over 80,000 miles.
4. Arteries: blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart to various parts of the body.
5. Veins: blood vessels that carry blood from all parts of the body back to the heart.
6. Capillaries: tiny blood vessels that carry blood to and from almost all body cells & connect
arteries and veins.
The Process of Circulation
A. You cannot live more than a few minutes without oxygen.****
B. Pulmonary Circulation: when blood travels from the heart, through the lungs, and back to the heart.
1. Gets rid of carbon dioxide & fills up with oxygen!
C. Systemic Circulation: when oxygen-rich blood travels to all body tissues except the lungs.
1. At same time blood delivers other nutrients to cells & picks up waste products.
Pulmonary and Systemic Circulation
1. Pulmonary system=O2 rich blood exits the lungspasses through the heartpumped to body tissues.
2. Systemic circulation = blood returns to heart & is pumped to the lungs.
a. Left Atrium = receives O2-rich blood from lungs & sends to Left Ventricle
b. Left Ventricle = Pumps O2-rich blood to Aorta (body’s largest artery)
c. Aorta = carries blood to branching arteries=take to capillaries.
1. Nutrients & Oxygen = travel through walls of capillaries to cells.
2. Cells send back wastes such as carbon dioxide.
d. Capillaries = deliver low O2 blood to veins.
e. Veins = carry blood back to the right atrium
f. Right Atrium: sends blood to right ventricle.
1. Right Ventricle = send low O2/high CO2 (carbon dioxide) blood to the lungs.
g. Lungs = CO2 removed from blood & is exhaled out of body.
1. O2 is inhaled & added to the blood then sent back to the heart through the
pulmonary vein to the left atrium.
Blood Pressure
A. Blood Pressure: the force of blood pushing against the walls of the blood vessels.
1. Systolic Pressure: 1st # read: when the heart contracts & pumps blood into the arteries.
2. Diastolic Pressure: 2nd # read: when the heart relaxes to refill with blood.
B. Pulse: registers the contractions of the heart as it pumps blood throughout the body.
What Makes Up Your Blood?
**Supplies all parts of your body w/materials needed to survive & helps fight off illness.
A. Plasma: a liquid that carries nutrients to cells.
1. Also carries hormones = which are chemicals that regulate body processes.
2. Also transports wastes to the lungs & kidneys for removal.
B. White Blood Cells: fight infection in the body.
1. Some create substances that destroy foreign cells.
2. Others find & devour disease-causing organisms.
C. Red Blood Cells: Carry oxygen from lungs to all parts of the body.
1. Look like little disks.
D. Platelets: the smallest type of blood cell.
1. Help blood clot at the site of a wound.
Blood Types
A. Red Blood Cells: A, B, AB, O
1. Blood type remains the same throughout your life.
2. Result of blood factors from both of your parents.
B. Know your blood type! Some are compatible and some are not!
1. If incompatible blood types mix, red blood cells in one type clump together & block the blood vessels.
2. SICK & DIE
3. O- blood type: Universal donors & are compatible with ALL blood types – highly sought after
4. Rh factor: a type of protein most people have in their blood.
a. If you have Rh factor in your blood = Rh+ (can receive donations from Rh+ or Rh-)
b. No Rh factor = Rh- Which means they can only accept donations from Rh- donors.
5. Pg. 75 Draw this diagram in your class notes    
Caring for Your Circulatory System
A. If you start now you will help keep it healthy for life.
1. Make aerobic activity a habit.
a. It will improve your cardiovascular endurance = helping circulatory system.
b. During aerobic activity = heart, blood vessels, & blood step up the supply of O2 &
nutrients to your body.