1. PHYSICAL FITNESS PHYSICAL CONDITION There are a set of elements that allow us to know the level of physical fitness of a person. One or more of these elements are necessary to perform any activity. They are: Stamina, strength, speed and flexibility STAMINA Stamina helps your muscles to work for a long period of time. With it, you can do exercises for a longer period of time, no matter the intensity. For example: - Cycling: In the Tour of France they ride more than 200km over a lot of days. - Marathon runners run for more than 2 hours at a very fast pace. - Swimmers in the 1500m race - Footballers need to run for 90 without being tired so they can dribble and shoot. Stamina is also called Endurance or Resistance. There are two types of Stamina, Resistance or Endurance: Aerobic and Anaerobic. During Aerobic activity, your heart and lungs give your muscles plenty of oxygen and you can do exercise for long periods of time at a medium intensity. (marathon, cycling...) During Anaerobic activity, your muscles don t have enough oxygen. These exercises are shorter but have a very high intensity (100m sprint, a basketball attack). With anaerobic stamina, you can do these exercises faster and get tired later. Benefits of regular stamina training: -Your heart grows larger and thicker -Your breathing capacity increases. -You have more capillary. -It s easier to maintain your ideal weight Aerobic Exercise is very good for your health. It develops your heart, your lungs and your circulatory system. STRENGTH Strength is the ability to use muscles against a resistance (a force or a weight). With it, you can move or lift weights, and you can move your body weight more easily. Some sports in which strength is important: - Weightlifting: to lift as much weight as you can. - Judo: to throw your opponent. - Climbing: you need to move your body weight up the mountain.
- Athletics: to jump higher or longer and to throw the javelin or hammer. There are three types of strength: Maximum strength: to lift very high weights: the best example are Olympic weightlifters. Explosive strength: to do a movement as fast as we can, moving a small weight (javelin throwers, for example) Resistance-Strength: to do exercises with medium weights for a long time (in judo, combats last 4 minutes; rowers must move the boat for a long time also) Benefits of developing your strength: -You have more muscular power size. -You can move weights easier (including your own body). posture in daily life and sports -Your muscles and tendons grow in -It helps you keeping a good SPEED Speed is the ability to do one or more movements in a short period of time. Some examples of sports where speed is important: - Fifty metres swimmers, react quickly to the horn and swim very fast. - Handball goalkeepers react very fast to stop balls. - Fencers must move fast to touch the opponent with their sword. When we talk about the speed to move from one place to another (running, biking or swimming), we call it a sprint. So you can find three types of speed: Speed means reacting quickly and moving fast. Reaction speed: moving as fast as you can after the referee blows the whistle in a 100m sprint. In team sports there is also reaction speed: chasing your opponent when he runs away from you, or reacting to a volleyball spike quickly. Movement speed: e.g. a karate kick or a tennis service must be very quick. Displacement Speed: any sprint in running or swimming, a dribbling in football... Benefits of speed training: - Speed is basic in all sports. Even in a marathon, the winner is the fastest! - It is related with coordination and agility. Move fast will give you an advantage in all sports. - Speed training develops and makes your muscles grow.
FLEXIBILITY Flexibility is the ability to have a wide range of movement with any part of your body. It is also called Suppleness. Flexibility is very important in all sports, because with it, you have better performance and fewer injuries. It is important for gymnasts, for hurdle runners or tae-kwondo fighters to do kicks. Flexibility depends on the joint range of movement and the stretching ability of the muscles around it. There are two types of flexibility: Dynamic Flexibility: you use it when you do wide, ample and relaxed movements. Static Flexibility: you use it when you hold one position for some seconds. There is no movement. Flexibility is the only physical ability that decreases as you grow older. You need to spend a little time every day to maintain and enhance it. Benefits of flexibility training: - Your range of movement in joints is bigger, so you can accelerate your arms and legs for a longer distance. Then, you can kick, throw and hit faster and stronger. - You have fewer injuries. - Your movements are not limited. - Your muscles are more elastic and more powerful. 2. BODY MUSCLES The muscles are the organs responsible for the movements of the body. They allow the skeleton to move and, at the same time, maintain its stability both in motion and in repose. In addition, the muscles in conjunction with the bones form the external appearance of the human body. Here there are the main functions: - They produce movement. - Joint stability - Body postural control - Protection. - Information about the physiological state of the body. - Contribution of heat.
The main body muscles 3. WARM UP AND COOLD DOWN At school, warm-up is the group of activities carried out at the beginning of a lesson which ready the body for more demanding efforts. It has the goal of activating every functional system in order to avoid injuries and achieve a better performance. The two main beneficts of warm-up are: - Preparing physically, physiologically and psychologically the athlete/student for an effort. - Avoid risk of injuries. More specifically, warm-up has an effect on the following four systems: - Respiratory system. - Cardiovascular system. - Locomotor system. - Nervous system.
The length of the warm-up depends on its function. A warm-up for High-level athletes is really intense and lasts 30 or 45 minutes, while at school it has only a moderate intensity lasting 10. The parts of a general warm-up are: - Joint mobility. (Ankles, knees, waist, shoulders, elbows, wrists and neck) - Flexibility. (Calves, hamstrings, abductors, quadriceps, chest, deltoids, biceps and triceps) - Activation exercises. For this part you can use jogging or games. What is the right warm-up intensity for me? Your heart rate is an indicator of the intensity level. The right one will make your HR range from 100 bpm at the beginning, finishing between 120-140 bpm after more strenuous exercises. Intensity must increase gradually and we should never exceed 80% of our maximum HR (HRmax = 220 age), so that a person who is 15 years old (220 15 = 205 bpm, 80% of 205 is 165) should not exceed 165 bpm during warm-up. To feel your pulse, you have to place your index and middle finger on the carotid or radial artery and count every beat for 15 and multiply the result by 4 or counting for 1. Cool down It can be defined as the set of gentle activities performed after finishing exercising to help restore the conditions we have at rest in our body, helping to create an overall recovery. It also prevents from injuries and allows a mental and physical relaxation. Its duration oscillates between 5 to 10. 4. POSTURAL HYGIENE Some of the rules that we must follow to avoid injuries and pains in certain parts of our body are the following: We must always keep your back as straight as possible. We must avoid the twists of the spine and bend laterally. We must strengthen the muscles that keep the spine straight (core muscles). These muscles are the abdominal and thoracic and lumbar muscles.
5. HEART RATE Heart-rate training benefits everyone, from the beginning exerciser trying to lose weight, to individuals trying to improve their cardiovascular fitness, to the highly conditioned athlete preparing for the next competition. The key to making progress is to elevate your heart rate into the correct training zone, so your effort matches your goals. Here are 4 easy-to-follow steps that will help you calculate your ideal heart-rate training zone. CALCULATE YOUR MAXIMUM HEART RATE Your heart should never beat higher than this rate. FFMAXIMUM HR= 220 your age DETERMINE YOUR RESTING HEART RATE Do this for several days in a row during the pe sessions to get consistent readings. Feel the pulse for 15 and multiply the result by 4 CALCULATE YOUR HEART-RATE RESERVE This heart-rate reserve represents the cushion heartbeats available for exercise. HR RESERVE= MAXIMUM HR RESTING HR CALCULATE YOUR AEROBIC TRAINING HEART RATE FOR FITNESS AEROBIC TRAINING HR = 80%HR RESERVE + RESTING HR IMPORTANT Example: If you are 20 years old and your RESTING HR is 80 beeps/minutes - Your MAXIMUM HR = 220 20 = 200bpm - Your HR RESERVE = 200 80 = 120 bpm - Your AEROBIC TRAINING HR = 80% of 120 + 80 (80*120) /100 + 80 = 176bpm
6. MAKE YOUR OWN TRAINING Here there are some examples of exercises that you can choose to set your own training working out your strength/stamina: